The Little Things
by greenlineprods
Summary: Lorelai learns to appreciate the little things Luke does for her.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Let's just call this "my version of the end of season five." I do not own these characters.

**The Little Things**

Lorelai sat on her couch, idly flipping through channels. By the time she got to HBO, she realized she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Glancing at the clock, she sighed when she saw that it was 8:00. Luke wouldn't be home for hours, and not only was she exhausted, she realized she was starving.

Meanwhile, Luke was trying to disentangle himself from the lingering dinner rush so he could get the hell out of the diner for the night, but so far, it didn't seem to be working. Cesar was having one of his klutz days, and Lane was pilfering food to bring to Zack and Brian, which didn't help his profits. He had to hand it to her, though, because she still managed to get all her orders right and not burn down the kitchen, which is more than he could say for Cesar. When the phone rang, Luke found himself actually looking forward to answering it, especially since it meant not having to deal with Kirk for a few minutes.

"Luke's."

"Hey hon," Lorelai's voice was so soft, Luke could barely hear her, but it sounded like she was about to fall asleep.

"HEY! ARE YOU OK?" shouted Luke, trying to hear her over the din of the diner.

"WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?" Lorelai yelled back, cringing at the loudness of her own voice.

"Sorry. It's a little crazy in here right now."

"Yeah, I can hear that."

"Are you feeling ok?"

"I'm a little tired. Why?"

"You sound like you're about to drop dead."

"Gee, thanks. When are you coming home?"

"As soon as I can get Kirk to stop slurping his milk."

"Awww. Did he order milk and separated Oreos again?"

"Yep."

"You're like his really cool babysitter that lets him eat all the junk food."

"And you wonder why I hate kids."

"They're not all like Kirk. Some actually grow up."

"So, was there a purpose for this phone call, or are you just trying to distract me long enough to not notice how much stuff Lane is stealing?"

"Yes, it is our master plan. Every night, Lane and I work on the blueprints for our house made of sugar packets and ketchup."

"Lorelai."

"Fine. All I wanted to tell you is that if you bring me a cheeseburger, I'll try and stay awake long enough to eat it when you get home," Lorelai said, trying to speak and yawn at the same time.

"You got it. You want anything else?"

"Just you."

Luke sighed as he hung up the phone and looked out at the now dissipating crowd. Unfortunately, Kirk was still working on his cookies, looking at Luke expectantly.

"What, Kirk?"

"Was that Lorelai on the phone?" asked Kirk.

"Yes, Kirk," said Luke, exasperated.

"What did she want?"

"What makes you think I'm going to tell you that?"

Kirk sheepishly looked down at his plate, which is now empty. "All done," he exclaimed, and ceremoniously got up to leave.

"Congratulations, Kirk. Now go, before I make you."

"Bye Luke." Kirk scurried out of the diner.

Luke wearily watched him and glanced around at the rest of the remaining customers. "God, don't these people have, like, families to hang out with, or TV shows to watch or something?" he asked no one in particular.

Lane heard this, and rushed over to him.

"Luke, you should go home," she encouraged, "Cesar and I have this covered."

Just then, a crash came from the kitchen. Lane rushed into the back. Luke followed her, but she pushed him out. "Go."

"You sure –"

"—GO!"

Luke hurried off, afraid to look behind him, for fear of getting sucked back in.

* * *

Luke walked into the house some twenty minutes later, and found Lorelai sprawled across the couch. One leg hanging off the couch, the other propped onto a cushion, an ice pack and an arm splayed across her forehead. A _Sex and the City _rerun blared in the background, but without Lorelai's usual running commentary on the insipidness of the characters, because she was fast asleep. 

Luke chuckled a little at the sight of her, turned off the TV and turned off a harsh over head light. He put her dinner on the coffee table, squatted in front of her, and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

Lorelai smiled and opened her eyes, removing the now warm ice pack from her head.

"Hey," Luke drawled, "what's with the ice pack?"

"I had a headache. What time is it?"

Glancing at his watch, Luke smiled and said, "8:45."

"God, I can't believe I conked out again. Seriously, I think I have a disease. It's been like this every night this week. I come home, I e-mail Rory, I turn on thetelevision and before I can tell Sarah Jessica to shut the hell up, I'm asleep. Hey – you came home early."

Instead of answering her, Luke said, "I brought dinner."

"You rock."

"Yes, but you didn't hold up your end of the deal."

"My what?"

"You were supposed to stay awake long enough to eat it. Now, seeing as you're an 85 year old and can't stay up past 8, maybe you should just go to bed and wait for breakfast."

"How can you be so mean to me when I just told you I think I have a disease?"

"Yeah, it's called 'you eat too much junk food and drink too much caffeine."

"So what'd you bring me?"

"You're looking at it."

"Normally, that kind of blatant flirting would totally get me into bed. But I'm so hungry I'm going to die, so hand over the burger."

Luke realized that this is the point where if he doesn't do what he's told, he might get seriously injured, so he reached behind him and handed over a Styrofoam container.

"Bless you, Luke," mumbled Lorelai, as she bit into the cheeseburger.

Luke regarded her for a moment, and then something dawned on him. "Wait a minute. Is this like the last time you told me you had a headache?"

Lorelai nearly choked on the burger, looking at Luke incredulously.

Luke gave her an evil smile.

"That's not even funny, Luke. God, what is wrong with you?" asked Lorelai, throwing a french fry at him.

"You're so funny when you think I'm mad at you."

"You're cruel."

"I'm going to bed. Care to join me?"

"No way. I'm still eating, and now I'm mad at you."

Luke got up and started towards the stairs, stopping to run his fingers through Lorelai's hair and plant a kiss on the back of her neck. "See you upstairs," he whispered.

The next morning, Lorelai crawled out of bed while Luke was still dead to the world. Or so she thought.

"What are you doing?" grumbled Luke.

"I have to go to work," said Lorelai sweetly, "go back to sleep."

"Lorelai," Luke said, glancing at the clock, "it's 6:30 in the morning."

"I know this."

"So, I repeat – what are you doing?"

"I can't sleep," Lorelai whined, "I went to sleep at, like, 8 last night, which is all your fault, by the way, so now I'm wide awake. God, this sucks. Now my whole schedule is all messed up."

"How is this my fault?"

"I don't know. I needed someone to blame."

"Can I make it up to you?"

"However are you going to do that?" Lorelai flirted, standing at the foot of the bed, clad only in Luke's flannel shirt.

Luke sat up and pulled her on top of him. "Have I ever told you how sexy you look in my shirt?"

Lorelai giggled. "No," she said, in between kisses, "I don't believe you have."

Later, when she was on her way to work, Lorelai felt the need to share her good mood with someone. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed her favorite – well make that only – daughter. Suffice it to say that sometime in the recent past, Rory had stopped being her favorite person in the world, but was still the only person Lorelai ever wanted to share a good mood with. Besides Luke, of course, but when said good mood involved gushing over Luke, she couldn't exactly share that with said boyfriend, now could she? Not in public at least.

Rory picked up the phone, not sounding too happy. "What, mom?"

"Hey there. I just wanted to share my glorious morning with you, that's all."

"Well, can you do that later? I was studying until late last night, and I don't have class till noon, which means you are –"

"- waking you up. Sorry babe."

Just then, Lorelai heard a distinctly male voice in the background. "Who's that?" it said.

"It's my mom," she heard Rory say, and thought she detected a hint of disdain in her voice.

"Is that Logan?" asked Lorelai into the phone, not quite sure Rory would even hear her.

"Um, yeah."

"It's pretty early for Logan to be there, isn't it?"

"Mom, stop it."

"Fine, but Rory, I just…"

"… goodbye, Mom. I'll talk to you later." And with that, she was gone. "Buzzkill," mumbled Lorelai into the dead phone.

Lorelai couldn't help feeling like she was losing her daughter piece by piece. Sighing, she wondered what was wrong with her. This was Rory – her beautiful, brilliant daughter, her best friend (hmm. Maybe not anymore. But Lorelai refused to let herself dwell on _that_ part, because it was entirely too depressing.) She deserved to be happy. She's allowed to have a boyfriend. She's allowed to have sex – she's halfway through college, for godsakes. So what was wrong with Lorelai that she couldn't just indulge Rory, just for a little while?

It was that Logan kid, that's what. "He's trouble," thought Lorelai, as she neared the inn. That's about as far as she got though, because she was approaching the porch of the Dragonfly, where Michel stood, impatiently tapping his foot.

"What's up, Michel?" asked Lorelai with a sigh.

"You were supposed to be here half an hour ago," screeched Michel, his accent getting worse the angrier he got, "but instead, I had to deal with Manny, the chef extraordinaire who knows nothing, and Sookie wondering where you were every five seconds. Oh yeah, and your mother called."

"Great. What did she say?"

"She said she doesn't think you avoiding her phone calls is funny anymore, and you better not call her back until you are ready to apologize."

"Oh good. So I don't have to talk to her ever again. That was exactly my plan. Get back inside, Michel."

Lorelai trailed Michel as he angrily stomped inside, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw a well groomed man in a business suit standing at the front desk.

"Oh no! Is that Mike? How long has he been here?"

"I told you, you were supposed to be here half an hour ago."

"Michel!" hissed Lorelai, "why didn't you call me?"

"I did. It was busy," said Michel.

"Great," muttered Lorelai.

Lorelai managed to pull herself together, apologized profusely to Mike, and the two set off for Weston's so they could chat. "Michel," said Lorelai sweetly, "please watch the desk while Mr. Armstrong and I have a meeting. I'll be back shortly."

Michel pouted behind the desk.

* * *

Later, as Lorelai made her way through town, all she could think about was coffee, and maybe a hug, from Luke. She wondered how a day that started out so good could turn so stressful. 

As she walked in and sat down at the counter, she saw Luke approaching. "Thank god. Someone who actually likes me."

"And who would that be?"

"Funny."

"Bad day?"

"Ugh. First with Rory and that boyfriend of hers, then with Michel and his accent, and then with my mother and her existing."

"So you and Rory are still having a thing, huh?"

"This is not a thing. This is a… I don't know, what's bigger than a thing?"

"I don't know."

"Well, whatever is bigger than a thing, that's what this is."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"It's just… he's not right for her. He's trouble."

"You know, you said the same thing about Jess," Luke pointed out.

"Yeah, and we saw how well that ended."

"Good point, I guess."

"It's just… it's not my place to tell her who she can and cannot date. I'm not Emily. But isn't it my job to point out when I think my daughter is about to get into some real trouble?"

"Yes, absolutely.

"But how can I do that, Luke?"

Lorelai looks at him appreciatively, and then goes back to contemplating her coffee. When she realizes there's nothing in it, she jumps out of her seat.

"Oh my god, I've been here forever. I have to get back to the inn. Dinner tonight, Luke? It's on me."

"Really? What's the occasion?"

"I actually have something I need to talk to you about."

"You're actually a spy?"

"You really need to stop watching Alias."

"See you later."

Lorelai starts towards the door, but turns around just before exiting. "Hey, Luke?"

Luke looks up.

"Thanks," whispers Lorelai.

"Anytime," he says, even though he's not exactly sure what she's thanking him for.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that evening, Lorelai stood in front of her closet in a towel, frowning at its contents, when her phone rang.

"I have nothing to wear," said Lorelai by way of greeting.

"Oh please," said Rory, "like you even have to bother. You're probably going to take it off anyway."

"Hey!" exclaimed Lorelai, "but you do have a point. However, we're actually going to a restaurant, so I think the waiters might not look so kindly on my current towel dress."

"Wow. A real restaurant, huh? Are you sure you can stay awake through dinner?"

"Doubtful, but for Luke, I'll try anything."

"Awww. You crazy kids."

"Can I borrow something to wear?"

"All my good clothes are at school, but if you can find something in my closet, be my guest."

Lorelai wandered downstairs, and stared at Rory's closet with the same frown on her face.

"You have nothing to wear either," whined Lorelai.

"That's because I took my clothes with me to my current residence."

"I need to go shopping."

"Well, shop in your own closet, because I don't think store employees would like your towel dress either."

"Don't make fun of mommy," joked Lorelai as she surveyed Rory's closet once again. "Hey!"

"What?"

"This is my Strawberry Shortcake T shirt. What's it doing in your closet?"

"That is so not your T shirt."

"Yes it is. I remember when I bought this."

"Oh yeah? When?"

"Uh… well.. it was.. with the store, in the mall, with the stuff, and the… so Rory what's new in your life?"

"Well, actually, I was hoping I could talk to you about—" she started, but was interrupted by the doorbell.

"Shoot, that's Luke. I have to go. Can we talk about this later?"

"But mom, I just –"

"—well, if you hadn't spent all that time arguing with me over my T shirt, we would've had time to talk."

"You're the one who – never mind. I'll just, get advice from Paris or something. Then I'll have to kill myself."

"That's my self sufficient college student," said Lorelai as she clicked off the phone. She knew she was avoiding the issue, and being a not-so-great mom while she was at it, but she just didn't have the time or energy to deal with the trials and tribulations of college non-romance at that moment.

She opened the door, forgetting that she was still wearing her towel as a dress.

"Hey," said Luke, "is that what you're wearing? Cause I like it," he teased as he pulled her in for a kiss that distracted them both enough to forget that they were supposed to be leaving. As Luke's hands began to wander, Lorelai's towel began to fall.

Lorelai pulled away quickly. "Luke!" she exclaimed, "stop that!"

"Well, you answer the door naked, what do you expect?"

"I am not naked. I am wearing a towel. And now, I'm going to get dressed."

"Ok, I'll come back in an hour."

"Funny. Give me five minutes." Lorelai kissed him again and flew up the stairs, losing the battle with the towel about half way up, much to Luke's enjoyment.

* * *

An hour later, they were seated at Marino's, and Lorelai was already on her second glass of wine, just starting to feel the stress of the day melt away. With that, however, came the exhaustion, and her eyelids started to feel heavy. Luke noticed.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked, in typical Luke fashion.

Lorelai tried to perk up. "Of course. I'm just really really tired. I've been working so much, and Rory's being weird, and believe it or not, avoiding my mother takes a lot more energy than you'd think."

After a long pause, Lorelai added, "I hung up on her today."

"Who? Your mother? That happens every day."

"No, Rory. I told her I didn't have time to talk to her. I don't think I've ever done that. Does that make me a horrible mother?"

"No, it makes you human. She's in college. She can figure these things out."

"I hope so. You know, I don't even know anymore. She used to be so – I don't know, determined, focused, independent. I hope that's what I taught her to be anyway. But lately, she's been acting so… so… not Rory. 'Friends with benefits?' That's not her."

"What the hell is that?"

"It's what you say when the guy you're sleeping with is also sleeping with several other women."

"Wow. This night is very educational."

"And," continued Lorelai, "she's blowing off classes to hang out with this guy and his friends while they go bungee jumping, or whatever it is they do? Also not Rory. Meanwhile, she's killing herself because she likes him, and he can't be bothered to call her back or pick her up when he says he's going to, or even defend her to his family. And I don't know what to do, or say, because she won't listen to me, and I'm not convinced she's going to come out of this ok."

"Lorelai," said Luke reassuringly, "take it from someone who worries unnecessarily about the people he loves… she will be fine. I may have to kick that Logan kid's butt, but in the end, Rory will be fine."

"I know," said Lorelai, Luke's offer to get involved flying right over her head, "But I don't even have the energy to talk to her anymore, because every time we do, we get into an argument, and it just breaks my heart to listen to her complaining about this guy."

Luke noticed that she had no response to his offering to kill Logan, and even though he was semi-joking, he knew she was doing it again – pretending like she could handle it all herself, more out of supposed necessity than anything else. He could not, for the life of him, figure out how to make her understand that he was going to help her, probably for the rest of her life, whether she wanted him to or not. The only thing he could do was keep offering, and hope that someday his services would be useful beyond fixing railings and cooking food. Unbeknownst to her, she had already done so much for him, and he hoped to return the favor, if only she would let him.

They sat in contemplative silence for a few moments.

"So… new topic. I met with Mike Armstrong today," said Lorelai.

"Who?"

"You know, the guy who wants to buy the inn."

"You actually met with him?"

"You told me to!"

"So what happened?"

"Not much."

"Are you actually thinking about selling your inn?"

"I don't know. If I did, I would get to travel all around the world and be a consultant for his company. I've always thought it would be cool to have a job like that, you know?"

"And you're actually considering this?"

"I don't know, I'm mulling. That's why I wanted to talk to you. I didn't want to go any further with this until I talked to you about it."

"Me? Why?"

"Luke, do I really have to spell it out for you?"

Luke looked down at his plate, both flattered that she considered him important enough to consult, and flabbergasted that she would even think about leaving him. When he didn't answer right away, Lorelai started to worry.

"So… what do you think?" she asked tentatively.

"Lorelai," he started, "I would love to beg you to stay, tell you that I would be absolutely broken hearted if you left. But you know that's not my style. If this is your dream, then you should do it. If this traveling thing is what you really want, then I can't stop you, and I won't try, because I've already tried that once in my life and I can guarantee you that it doesn't work."

Secretly, this was not the answer Lorelai was hoping for. She knew it was a little selfish and a little bit like fishing for compliments, but she kind of wanted Luke to beg her to stay, to pledge his undying love for her and tell her how much he would miss her if she left, and that therefore, she can't leave, ever. But Luke was right. She knew that was not his style, it was not in him to keep her from her supposed dreams, however damaging they may be. She knew he would cheer her on if she decided to become a professional fire eater, if she asked. He was the best guy she had ever known, and here she was practically trying to manipulate him into begging her to stay. The thought brought tears to her eyes, so she excused herself to the ladies' room to pull herself together.

Luke sighed when he thought about the prospect of Lorelai constantly being on the other side of the world from him. He had no idea how to even fathom that idea, so he did the only thing he could think of – he ordered dessert.

When Lorelai returned to the table, freshly mascara'd and lip glossed (Luke wasn't fooled though – he knew she'd been crying, but decided to let it go for now), she was overly delighted to find a huge piece of chocolate cake waiting for her.

"What did you do?" she marveled.

"I slaved over this all day," Luke teased. "It's just dessert, Lorelai."

"I know, but you hate it when I eat tons and tons of sweets, and now you're encouraging it?"

"You would've ordered it anyway. I just saved us some time."

"Oh I see, so this all part of your ploy to get me into bed."

"I wasn't aware that I needed a ploy."

"Why Luke Danes," Lorelai drawled, in her best Southern Belle, "I am appalled that you would think of me in that manner."

Luke chuckled, glad that the banter was back and they could stop thinking about the prospect of being away from each other for a couple of minutes.

"You know, I ran into Dean the other day," Luke stated as Lorelai gobbled her cake.

"Really? What happened?"

"Man, that guy hates me."

"Why?"

"Would you believe he's still stuck on Rory?"

"God, she's like a mythological creature or something. Every man she meets fall in debilitating love with her for ever and ever. I wish I had that power."

"You do."

"I do not."

"Believe me, you do."

"You're only saying that because you're in love with me and you don't know any better."

"Who said I was in love with you?"

"Shut up. And what does Dean being stuck on Rory have to do with you?"

"I don't know, but that kid really has it in for me."

"What did he say to you?"

"Nothing important."

"So that's it? That's the whole story? You just brought that up to inform me that Dean supposedly hates you?"

"Yeah, whatever, it's no big deal. He's like, nineteen. What do I care what he thinks of me? You ready to go?"

"Yeah, I guess," responded Lorelai. She knew there was more to the story, but frankly, she didn't have the energy to inquire. She would get it out of Luke eventually (probably when it wasn't even important anymore), and decided she'd rather worry about her own problems than something Dean had said. She would never admit this, especially after all of her efforts to be accepting of his relationship with Rory, but she really didn't have a whole lot of respect for the kid, and if he had messed with Luke, well, that would give her one more reason to dislike him, and she really didn't need that right now.

What she needed was to get home and go to bed so she could spend the next day figuring out how to train Sookie's replacement so that he and Michel wouldn't kill each other. She cringed thinking about it, knowing full well that Sookie should have done it two months ago. And while she understood not wanting to face the idea that someone would be able to replace you, it now looked like just one more thing she was going to have to do on her own.

* * *

Much later, Luke was still awake when he realized that his ploy, as Lorelai had called it, had not worked at all, because she had fallen asleep the second she got home. He felt badly that she was so tired, but found that he had been having the opposite problem lately. He had gotten himself so excited about buying the house and possibly starting a family with the woman of his dreams, that he was having trouble sleeping at all. He had started formulating plans for when and how to tell her, but none of them seemed good enough. He had to make sure she wanted the same thing as him, but he didn't know how to do that without flat out asking her, and that simply wouldn't do. He knew he was being ridiculous – this very problem is what kept him from asking her out for eight years, and look where they had ended up. But there was no way he could wait another eight years. In fact, he didn't think he could wait another eight minutes.

Now, he reflected on their conversation from earlier, and started to panic. What if she doesn't want the same things as him? What if she's actually serious about taking this job, and traveling four days out of every week? Not that they couldn't make their relationship work, but having kids was definitely out of the question, and maybe she wanted to get away from him. After all, this is the first time in her life when she's able to be an independent adult, with no kid to depend on her, and maybe she wanted to get away and be single for a while. Luke was definitely not going to stop her from doing that.

His mind racing, Luke got up, went downstairs, and started pacing around the living room. He had to waste his energy somewhere, and he didn't want to wake Lorelai up.

Several minutes later, Lorelai woke up to an empty bed. Luke didn't know this, but since their breakup, she always woke up when he left, worrying for a split second that he had changed his mind about her and was not coming back. She didn't hear sounds coming from the bathroom, and wondered where Luke had gone. The unfounded panic got to her when she realized that, as damsel in distress as it may sound, she had gotten used to having Luke there, and wasn't really a fan of waking up without him. Hmm, she thought, something to think about when considering Mike Armstrong's job offer.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I have no idea whether I got the timeline right (I think I might have added an extra day in there or something), but trying to figure out Gilmore time gives me a headache, and I would rather not have to watch "Blame Booze and Melville" again. I'm going with Daniel's theory that you actually can tell if you're pregnant two days after it happens, because it's just easier that way.

The next day, Lorelai found herself so buried in paperwork, reservations, broken banisters, and Michel's whining that she hardly had time to breathe, let alone eat or find some coffee. She was running up the stairs yet again (she had to remember to wear better shoes!) to make sure the maid had not mixed up the dirty towels with the clean towels, when Michel caught up to her.

"Geez, Lorelai. You're like that insipid cartoon who runs around all day jumping off cliffs. I do not have time for cartoons," said Michel.

"What do you want, Michel?"

"There is a phone call for you."

"Can you take a message? I'm a little busy here," bratted Lorelai.

"Yes, I can see, training for the Beijing games," he said to Lorelai. Back into the phone, he said, "I'm sorry Luke, she's going to have to –"

Lorelai snatched the phone out of his hand. "Give me that! What is wrong with you?"

"That was fun," said Michel, as he darted away.

"Hi!" said Lorelai, into the phone.

"What the hell is going on over there?" inquired Luke.

"Oh, nothing seven little people and maybe some singing birds and mice wouldn't fix. What's up with you?"

"Are you coming in for lunch?"

"Can't have lunch. No time for lunch."

"You want me to bring you something?"

"Nah, I'll just mooch from the kitchen here. Thanks, though. I'll talk to you later?"

"You bet."

They both hung up with a sigh, knowing that was the closest they would come to seeing each other for a few days. Lorelai was stuck picking up the slack left in Sookie's absence and Michel's, well, existence, and Luke was so busy obsessing over the Twickham house that he found himself frantically playing catch up whenever he deigned to pay attention to the diner.

An idea started forming in Luke's head, while he thanked god for small favors named Lane and Cesar. He made up two gigantic cheeseburgers, some onion rings, a plate of chili fries, and a salad just for good measure. He packaged it all up, stuck some donuts in the bag, filled a couple of to go cups with coffee, and handed it all to Lane.

"Can you bring this to the Dragonfly please and give it to Lorelai?" Luke would've brought it himself, but this was the first time all day he had actually spent an extended amount of time in his own diner, and couldn't get away. Lane willingly obliged, as usual, and started out the door. Luke stopped her before she left though, scrawled something on a napkin, and stuck it in the bag. "And don't take any money from her, ok?"

"You got it, boss," said Lane, and left for good this time. Luke thought it was amusing that Lane, the kid he had known since she was two, called him boss, but whatever. He didn't have time to dwell on it, because he spotted Taylor outside and ran out to corner him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lorelai was wrapping up a phone call at the inn when Lane walked in. Lane could hear strains of the conversation the second she walked in, and she knew it couldn't be good.

"Mother," Lorelai was saying, "I am not discussing this with you… I know you don't like him… I've tried to tell you what I think about that, but you won't listen, and therefore I am not discussing this with you."

As she hung up the phone in disgust, she spotted Lane carrying a gigantic 'Luke's' bag.

"Lane! Fancy meeting you here."

"You know, I thought I would take a little walk on my lunch break."

"What's that?" inquired Lorelai, already peeking into the bag.

"This is for you," said Lane, handing it over.

"All this, just for me? Why, I'm flattered, but you really shouldn't have."

"I didn't. Luke did."

"Really?" Lorelai squealed, not disguising her delight very well.

This amused Lane greatly. "Luke said he would've brought it himself, but he just couldn't get away. And then he mumbled something about how if he came over here, he would never leave, or he would leave, but he would probably be missing some important article of clothing, which frankly, is a little bit too much information."

"I'll say," squealed Lorelai, again. She couldn't help it. However, she pulled herself together, put the bag down on the desk, and pulled out her wallet.

"Here," she said, handing Lane a twenty, "thank Luke for me."

"Oh no. I'm not allowed to take money from you."

"Why not?"

"I don't know! I don't know what sort of arrangement you two have – and please – don't tell me."

"Well, just slip it into the register and don't tell him where you got it."

"He'll know."

"How?"

"He's Luke. He knows things."

"Hmm. You're right. Well just consider it a really big tip then."

With that, Lane disappeared. Lorelai took the bag into her office, not wanting to share with anyone, and sat down, probably for the first time all day. She unpacked the massive amounts of food, and laughed when she saw the salad Luke had tried to sneak in. She bit into the cheeseburger, and it immediately dripped all sorts of condiments everywhere. She went in search of a napkin, and found the one Luke had written on. She read it, forgetting about the mess she was making for a second.

_Lorelai,_

_Thought you could use some sustenance. I know this isn't the same as eating leftovers from other people's plates, but I hope it's to your liking._

_I love you._

Lorelai put down the burger and closed her eyes for a second, reveling in the fact that not only had Luke fed her, but he had found a way to brighten her day by writing three words on a napkin. That took talent, she thought. She slipped the napkin into her purse, not quite sure what she was going to do with it, but not quite ready to throw it out either. One thing she was not going to do was tell Luke she had saved it, as she was pretty sure she would never hear the end of that one.

* * *

Later that week, Lorelai was covering the desk for Michel, when it dawned on her that she and Luke hadn't had sex in what felt like a really long time. Hell, forget sex. They hadn't even seen each other in a couple of days. The closest they'd come was three days ago, after Luke had sent her that awesome lunch-o-gram, and she had stopped by the diner on her way home, only to find Luke so embroiled in a phone conversation with Taylor that he refused to even look at her. She knew something was up – that had been happening a lot, and the last time she checked, Luke and Taylor were not exactly Joey and Chandler. However, once again, she had neither the time nor the patience to try and wrangle it out of Luke, especially since she knew Patty's phone would inevitably pick up one of their conversations, and she would find out from her eventually.

Not wanting to think about Taylor for one more second, Lorelai tried to hatch a plan to get Luke alone for a while so she could seduce him. Not that much seduction would be needed, she was sure, but it was still fun to plan. Just as her fantasy of somehow locking Luke in her office and having her way with him was starting to garner an NC-17 rating, Michel burst into the lobby carrying a box of magazines.

"Lorelai!" he shrieked, pulling Lorelai out of her fantasy and causing her to blush much more than she would like. "Look! It's so pretty!" screeched Michel.

"Let me see," said Lorelai, as calmly as she could muster. As much as she didn't want to sound like Michel, she couldn't help but be pretty damn excited. Her inn, the one she had dreamed about owning for years and years, was not only successful, but on the cover of a magazine. She'd always wanted someone besides Rory to be so interested in her life that they felt the need to write an article about it. Upon glancing at the article, she felt a slight twinge when she realized that the writer had indeed published all the nasty things she had said about her mother. Oh well, she figured, now is as good a time as any for her mother to find out what she thought about her. It's not like they were planning on re-enacting _Terms of Endearment_ anytime soon, and Lorelai still had enough lingering resentment from the whole Christopher showing up at the wedding fiasco that she didn't much care.

She grabbed a couple copies and headed over to Luke's, so she could brag to one more person about her prestige in the hotel industry. They agreed to get dressed up and be chauffered to the fancy party the magazine was throwing for her, but Lorelai couldn't help but hope that she had enough energy to get through the evening. She knew she couldn't back out of this gathering, but really all she wanted was to get Luke alone.

* * *

Later, as she was primping for the party, it occurred to her that although she and Luke had decided that it was good for her career and such to be social once in a while, no one said they couldn't have their own private little after party. She changed out of the demure pants suit she had chosen, and instead put on one of the skimpiest dresses she owned, coupled with the perfume she knew drove Luke crazy. She grabbed her purse and filled it with the necessities – lip gloss, nail polish remover, her cell phone, and a condom from her nightstand, because, if she remembered correctly from the last time she was over there, Luke's nightstand was a sad state of affairs, and she wasn't taking any chances. She forgot all about the napkin that was still crumpled on the bottom of her purse. Finally satisfied with her outfit and choice of accessories, she rushed down the stairs right as the doorbell rang.

Luke took one look at her and felt his cheeks start to redden. He was amazed at her ability to render him practically speechless just by putting on a dress and some perfume. He wondered whether she knew that despite the effect she was having on him right now, most days, just her smile was all he needed in life. "Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs. Robinson?"

"Something like that," said Lorelai huskily, as she snaked her arms around his neck.

"It has been a while, hasn't it?" said Luke, rather matter of factly for a man who'd just been practically jumped by a very beautiful woman wearing a very short dress.

"Are you sure we have to go to this thing?" whined Lorelai.

"Believe me, I would like nothing else but to take that dress off of you right here, but my dear, our chariot awaits," Luke said, moving aside so Lorelai could get a glimpse of the fabulous limo the magazine had sent for them.

Regaining her composure, Lorelai's mouth flew open in excitement. "Cool!" she exclaimed, and, "please never speak to me in prince charming language again. It makes me feel like I'm going to be locked up in a tower, helpless, until my man comes to rescue me."

"You mean that's not one of your fantasies?"

"I'm not into submissive."

"Duly noted."

* * *

The next morning, Lorelai woke up with the mother of all hangovers. Although it took her a second to remember why she had the mother of all hangovers, the night before quickly came back to her as she glanced around Luke's apartment. As she got out of bed to survey the damage, she tried to remember the events of the previous night. Had they… had sex… on a pool table? No, no that was the _Friends_ rerun she had fallen asleep watching the other night. There was a limo, right? Yup, that was more like it. Damn, she thought, that sure beats the balcony in my parents' house. Score one for Luke.

She remembered how heated things got after that, how they couldn't wait to rip each others' clothes off the second they stepped into Luke's apartment, and if Luke's floor was any evidence, they had certainly succeeded. However, nowhere in there did she remember going into her purse. Locating said purse, she sat down on Luke's bed, knowing he wouldn't be up for a while, and fished through it. Sure enough, buried beneath the lip gloss and her dead cell phone, was the condom she had thrown in there. "Great," she muttered to herself, as she pulled it out and stuck it in Luke's nightstand. She didn't notice that while she was doing this, the napkin-note had also fluttered out of her purse and onto the floor, landing right next to Luke's boxers.

* * *

Sometime later, Luke woke up with the mother of all hangovers. It took him a couple minutes to figure out why he was sleeping on the wrong side of the bed, but seeing Lorelai's unmistakable mountain of pillows on the other side of the bed tipped him off. Looking at the clock, he figured she was long gone, and sighed at the thought. One night together after so long apart, and he didn't even get to wake up with her in the morning? That wasn't how it was supposed to go. He sighed even longer when he reminded himself that they could be doing this a lot (well minus the drinking like college students at a frat party) in the near future, if Lorelai took that job. He wasn't sure if he would be able to handle only seeing her in passing, as she unpacked one suitcase just to pack another. As it stood he wasn't a big fan of having her rush home in the mornings just so she could shower and get dressed for work, but he was still looking for the right time to ask her to live with him.

As he made his way into the bathroom, he noticed that his small table was set with some kind of breakfast. There was a glass of orange juice, two aspirin sitting next to it, and a bagel on a plate. A napkin sitting on top of the bagel read, "For you. Love, Lorelai." Luke was amazed at how she could brighten his day by writing four words on a napkin.

He let himself revel in the moment for just a second, and then continued towards the bathroom. He stopped dead in his tracks, however, when he slipped on a crumpled up napkin on his floor. He picked it up, getting ready to throw it out, when he noticed it had writing on it. His handwriting. It was the note he had left for Lorelai days and days ago when he had made lunch for her. The one he didn't even remember writing until right now, when he realized that the only way for it to end up back in his apartment is if it had fallen out of Lorelai's purse. He laughed out loud thinking, "I'm going to give her so much crap about this."

* * *

Meanwhile, Lorelai had spent most of her morning trying not to dwell on her oversight from the night before. She still had a slight hangover, and thinking about the possible complications that came from the making of that hangover was giving her an even bigger headache. She decided to put it out of her head until she could come up with a rational way to work through this problem. However, just as she was doing this, Luke walked in, looking just as cuddly as ever, if not a little puffy eyed just like herself.

"Hey," he greeted her, leaning way over the desk to be closer to her. "I think you left something in my apartment."

"My dignity?"

"Ha ha. No, this," he said, as he proudly produced the slowly disintegrating napkin that had fallen out of her purse.

"That's not mine," she said, lying badly.

"Liar. I can't believe you kept this stupid thing."

"You're one to talk," she muttered, though Luke could tell she was not amused. She actually looked uncharacteristically hurt, he thought, and decided it was in his best interest to stop making fun of her.

"You ok?" he asked, this time with genuine concern.

By way of response, Lorelai snapped, "gimme that," snatching the napkin out of his hand and putting it back in her purse.

"Lorelai, what is the matter?"

"Nothing. I have a lot of work to do. I'll see you later." With that, Lorelai walked away, leaving Luke to wonder what the hell he had done wrong.

As she walked away, she just grew more and more angry. She couldn't believe that after everything that had happened between last night and this morning, the only reason Luke had come over there was to make fun of her. Had he really not noticed the same thing she had? She knew that most of the time, she was the one who worried and fretted over birth control, but how could he be so irresponsible as to not notice when they hadn't used any? Whatever, she thought. She wanted to chalk it up to the fact that men couldn't be trusted with this sort of thing, but that wasn't putting a whole lot of faith in Luke, or the male species for that matter, and she wasn't entirely comfortable with that.

She spent the rest of the day just trying to forget about it once again, and busied herself running interference between Manny and Michel.

That evening, Lorelai sat in her living room, about to fall asleep before nine once again. She decided that was unacceptable and that she was sorely in need of some girl talk. She picked up the phone and dialed her best friend.

"Hi mom!" said Rory in her high pitched squeal, the one she had seemed to adopt ever since she started hanging out with that Logan kid. It made Lorelai wonder if Logan had some sort of baby fetish. It also made Lorelai wonder whether Rory even realized she was doing it.

"Whoa, Rory, take the baby voice down a notch."

"What are you talking about?" asked Rory, in her "my mom is crazy voice."

"That's better. So what's up?"

"Just getting ready to go out."

"What did you want to talk about the other day?"

"Oh, nothing, I've already got it figured out."

"Oh, okay. Are you going out with Logan?"

"If I say yes, are you going to make a face?"

"How will you be able to tell if I make a face?"

"I can tell. You're doing it right now."

"I am not making a face," exclaimed Lorelai, even though she could tell she was frowning at the thought of Rory going out with Logan while Lorelai watched movies by herself.

"So, did I tell you that Mitchum Huntzberger offered me an internship at the Stamford paper?"

"No. Mitchum Huntzberger, huh? Well, as long as you think it's going to help. Every little thing counts, right?"

"Yeah. I'm already on a first name basis with all the reporters and the guy who runs the coffee truck."

"How long have you been working there?"

"I dunno, two weeks."

"Rory, you've been working there two weeks and you're telling me now?"

"It's no big deal. I gotta go – Logan's here. I think we're going to a party on a yacht. Exciting, huh?"

"Yeah, swell. Rory, hun, I wanted to ask you –" Lorelai was interrupted by the loud knocking on Rory's door.

"Gotta go. I'll call you later," said Rory, and off went the phone.

"Great," Lorelai muttered to herself. She had lost track of how many times she had done that that day. She didn't understand what was going on between her and Rory. Not to be dramatic or anything, but she felt like she was losing her best friend. And right then, she was in severe need of some girl talk, and she had no one to indulge with her. Sookie was out of the question, because she was about to pop any second, and she couldn't call Luke because, well, he was a man, and he was sort of the source of her problems right then. Besides, she'd been kind of a jerk to him earlier and wasn't ready to apologize yet. Lorelai hadn't felt this lonely since that one time she and Luke had broken up, and she didn't like it one bit.

* * *

The next day, Sookie went into labor, and all of Lorelai's ministrations to try to avoid dealing with her own possible pregnancy flew out the window. Everything from driving Sookie to the hospital, to her random apple craving, to getting emotional over the babies in the nursery sent her own radar into overdrive. She couldn't take it anymore – she had to know, and she had to know what Luke was thinking before she could even deal with it herself.

As soon as she knew Sookie and her newborn were going to be okay, she started for home, stopping in the hospital pharmacy to pick up one of those pee on a stick pregnancy tests, which she shoved into the bottom of her purse.

When she approached Stars Hollow, she steeled herself for the conversation she was about to have. As much as she dreaded it, she just had to know what Luke was thinking. Heck, she wasn't even sure what she was thinking.

Lorelai sat down at her usual table in the diner, and let Luke watch her down a whole mug of coffee and a cheeseburger before she realized what she was doing. She wasn't saying much, which puzzled Luke, but he decided to let her have her space. He knew she would talk when she was ready.

He approached her table, asking if she wanted more coffee.

"Of course," replied Lorelai, trying to look like her usual chipper self, and then, "Wait! I mean no. I mean, do you have any decaf?" Great, Lorelai, she thought, way to blow your cover.

"What?" asked Luke, incredulous. He still had no idea where this was going.

"Yeah, um, I want decaf," said Lorelai, a bit impatiently.

"Why would you want that?" asked Luke.

After letting her mind wander for a few seconds, Lorelai realized that Luke was still waiting for a response. "What? Oh, never mind. No coffee for me. Just pie."

Luke chose not to respond to this, and went to get her pie, despite how weird she was acting. When he came back, she was still doing the weird staring thing, and barely noticed his presence.

"Ok, that's it!" he exclaimed, "What is wrong with you?"

"Me? No, nothing. Why?"

"Because when you say no to coffee, it usually means there's something wrong."

"Right. Can you sit down for a minute? And take that coffee away from me."

Luke sat down, but was all nervous and fidgety. Lorelai noticed, which only made her stall even more. She didn't say anything.

"Lorelai," said Luke, "If you're not going to talk to me then I have to go. I have customers," he explained as he got up and started to walk away.

Lorelai decided to stop being a baby and just get it over with already. "I think I might be pregnant," she blurted.

Luke dropped the coffeepot he was still holding, making a gigantic mess and grabbing the attention of Kirk and Taylor, the only other customers in the diner. He and Lorelai watched the mess grow for a few seconds, desperately trying to read the looks on each other's faces. Lorelai knew this conversation would be awkward, but she had hoped that for once in her life, she could drop a bombshell on someone she loved and receive comfort… not broken coffee pots, in return. Realistically though, she knew this was asking too much from the moment, and that once Luke stopped doing his David Schwimmer impression, he would provide all the comfort she needed… right?

Luke walked toward the storage room, Lorelai right behind him.

She started again, "I don't know for sure, so don't, you know, freak out or anything." She knew it was too late, he had already lost it, but felt the need to try anyway.

Luke started pacing frantically around the storage room, much to Lorelai's amusement.

"Luke, what on earth are you doing?"

"Looking for the mop."

Lorelai looked behind her and spotted a mop right next to the door. "You mean this one?" she asked, picking it up.

"Yeah, thanks," said Luke absentmindedly, grabbing it out of her hand. She followed him back into the diner, and watched him fruitlessly try to clean up the ever growing puddle of coffee.

"Hey Luke?"

"Yes, Lorelai."

"Can you maybe ask Cesar to do that?"

"Why?"

Lorelai was exasperated. "LUKE!"

Lorelai's shouting brought Luke back into reality, as he slumped back down into the chair. "Yeah, okay," he grumbled, and finally, after a long pause which included Luke studying the pattern on the linoleum, he managed half a sentence. "But… How… When… Why?" he sputtered, much to his own annoyance. Lorelai was obviously shaken up about this, and he couldn't even muster two words of support.

"Do you really want me to answer that? Because if so, then we really have a problem," said Lorelai, slipping back into her familiar sarcasm.

Luke attempted to respond again. "But… I… don't understand…"

"Oh, god, high school flashbacks."

Somehow, this was enough to knock some sense back into Luke, and he responded with, "I know there's something I'm supposed to say here, I'm just not quite sure what it is."

"That's a little better. I'm craving apples."

"Huh?"

"When I was pregnant with Rory, all I wanted to eat were apples. Now, you know I don't normally crave fruit, so when all I wanted to eat yesterday were apples, I thought something must be up, you know? So I went and bought one of those home pregnancy tests – and boy have those things changed since I was sixteen. Did you know they now make them so that it literally tells you whether you're pregnant or not, no colors involved?"

"Uh, yeah, I did know that."

"So do not want to know why."

"So?"

"So, what?"

"Was it…"

"I haven't done it yet."

"Well, why the hell not?"

"Because I wanted to make sure you wouldn't freak out. Glad to see it's working."

* * *

Some time later, Lorelai and Luke sat in Luke's bed, ready to go to sleep, though neither one felt much like sleeping. They were not touching, or talking, or doing anything to make the situation less awkward, and it was killing Lorelai. She knew they had to talk about this, but Luke didn't seem too eager to begin the conversation at all.

Lorelai had no idea what to do. She had not expected him to respond like… _this_. She was used to his stoicism, for the most part, but after her conversation with Rory last night, she really needed a shoulder to cry on, and Luke was not doing a very good job providing one.

Luke thought of a million different things he could say to her right now, but none of them seemed good enough. 'Now's as good a time as any,' he thought, to tell her of his plans for the Twickham house, but she seemed so disappointed in the possibility of being pregnant, that he didn't want to scare her into thinking she had to stay just so they could have babies. He could see on her face that she really needed him to be supportive right then, but he was having trouble coming up with what that was.

Finally, Lorelai couldn't take it any more. She gathered whatever was left of her courage, and said… "So." Good one, Lorelai. Sitting here talking in half sentences is really going to make this conversation go smoother, she thought.

Luke responded with, "So."

"Are we going to talk about this?" asked Lorelai, knowing full well that his answer was going to be no, but figured it was worth a shot.

"Damn. I was trying to avoid it."

"Well, it's been a few hours, and while I usually enjoy your silent-stoic thing, I gotta tell you, it's starting to wear me out."

"Goodnight, Lorelai." With that, Luke turned off the light, turned away from her and squished down onto his pillow, hoping she would get the hint. She didn't.

"Do you remember what you said to me once?" asked Lorelai, in that voice of hers that told him that even if he didn't remember (which, of course he did, and he knew exactly what she was referring to), she would tell him anyway.

Instead of telling her that, Luke said, "I don't want to talk about this."

"I think we need to."

Luke still didn't answer her. He didn't know what he was so reluctant to say, but he knew if he said it, out loud, in words, it would be much scarier to deal with. So he didn't.

Lorelai continued, "We were at that stupid dance marathon, and my shoe broke, and Jackson was yelling at me for giving Sookie advice about how many kids she should have, or something like that, and you said, 'if I ever meet the right person, there would be a conversation."

"Uh huh."

"Luke?"

"Yep."

"Am I the right person?"

Luke could tell Lorelai was staring at him, despite the darkness in the room. Luke knew that Lorelai knew exactly why he wasn't talking to her, and that she was going to get it out of him, so he might as well tell her. He reached over and turned the light back on, looking at her pointedly. "Fine, yes, ok."

"Ok what?"

"I think it would be nice." Lorelai never thought she would hear Luke say those words in reference to her, but she tried to keep her cool. She knew if she acted like the 12 year old with a crush that she felt like right then, he would clam up again and never ever admit that he liked her ever again.

"What would?" she asked tentatively.

"You know, a family. The whole stupid thing – a house, a wife, a kid, maybe a goldfish," said Luke, a bit sheepish.

"A goldfish?"

"Well, you know, dogs are so messy."

"Dogs are messy?"

"Yes."

"Messier than kids?"

"Lorelai!"

A few moments passed, the two still a little afraid to look at each other. Neither knew what exactly what they were afraid was going to happen if they did, but something about this conversation forced them to keep their distance a little while longer.

After a long pause, Lorelai broke the silence again. "Hey, Luke?"

"Huh?"

"Is this why you were suddenly interested in the Twickham house?"

"I've always wanted to have a family in that house," Luke finally confessed, and then, "how did you know?"

"Miss Patty's phone picks up other people's conversations, remember?"

Lorelai could hardly contain the rush of emotions she felt upon hearing Luke say that. Not that she was running to Home Depot or anything, she liked her old house, but all these years she had wondered what Luke's dreams were, whether or not he wanted a girlfriend, a family, children. Now she got to find out that not only did he want it, but he wanted it with her and no one else. "Oh, Luke," she said, through the tears that were forming in her eyes, "why didn't you tell me? Last week, you were all, 'I hate kids,' and 'Kirk so closely resembles a child that I want to kick his ass all the way back to his mother's house.' What changed in the last week?"

"Nothing changed. I just didn't want you to know. I was afraid you would think I was crazy."

"I do think you're crazy," she said, gazing at him with a love in her eyes that he hadn't seen before.

"Look who's talking," he said, glancing over at her.

"But Luke," she started again, "don't you think that starting a family and buying a house would have involved consulting me at some point? Unless you're planning on impregnating me without my knowledge. Oh no! That's what you were doing isn't it? This was part of your evil plan all along..."

Luke couldn't believe what she was saying. He looked at her, horrified.

"I'm just kidding," she said, smugly.

"God, Lorelai. Like I would ever..."

"Geez Luke, calm down. I was just kidding."

"So do you... want more kids?"

"I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it until... today, I guess. I mean, seeing Sookie and Jackson all aglow and excited about their family, it just made me wonder, you know?"

"Wonder what?"

"What it would have been like. If I had had that with Rory. I mean, I wouldn't trade my experience with Rory for anything... except... well maybe the one I'm having right now, but anyway, I always thought that if I had the chance to do it again, I would do it right. Get married, buy a Volvo or some such ridiculous vehicle, have a kid, get a dog. Sorry, no goldfish in my future plans, hun."

"Volvos get terrible gas mileage," Luke joked, but added, "You know, you told me this once before."

Lorelai was amazed that he remembered stupid things she said to him just as well as she recalled all the stupid conversations they'd had in the past. She remembered the moment vividly. "I did?"

"It was when..."

"... Christopher told me Sherry was pregnant. I remember."

"Yeah. So lemme ask you something. This family you've always envisioned. Was it really him all those years that you pictured?"

Lorelai hadn't even thought about Christopher in ages. Besides the few lunches they had, and the mishap at her parents' wedding, he hadn't even entered her mind in years. "I don't think so. I think it was more the concept I was interested in. Do you remember what you said to me that day? There I was, pouring my heart out to you, as usual, even though I knew you weren't particularly interested in hearing about my pathetic love life. And you just stood there, like you knew exactly what you were talking about, and said, 'you will have that."

"What can I say, I am a man of many talents. Including, apparently, clairvoyance."

With that, Lorelai squished down next to him, hugging his midsection. Luke enjoyed the moment, taking time to run his fingers through Lorelai's hair, and enjoying the silence this time, because they finally seemed to have their thoughts in sync.

However, there were still unanswered questions, and Lorelai broke the silence. "So am I?"

"Are you what?"

"The right person."

"Well, we're having the conversation, aren't we?"

"God, Luke, what would you have done if I were really pregnant?"

"Me? I'm fine."

"Yeah, right. You were real smooth downstairs with all the coffee-spilling and mop-getting shenanigans."

"At least I wouldn't feed our kid endless caffeine and junk food."

"Hey, I stand by my dietary choices. Rory turned out just fine, didn't she?"

"Probably because she inherited your crazy gene."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"I'm tired. I'll think of a better comeback in the morning."

"Looking forward to it."


	4. Chapter 4

A few nights later, Lorelai was in the middle of another disaster. After she had picked Rory up from the police station (Rory! At a police station!), gotten donuts from Luke, and put Rory to bed, she sat on her couch and stared at the wall. She had no idea what to do. Rory still hadn't told her the whole story, and Lorelai couldn't seem to find a way to connect with her. She'd never had to deal with this kind of stuff before, and for a split second, thought about what it must have been like for her parents. Is this why they couldn't communicate? Had they also sat around, dumbfounded, wondering how on earth they were going to handle their daughter?

Tired of thinking about it, she started for the stairs, only to be stopped in her tracks by a soft knock on the door. When she opened it, she was not surprised at all to see Luke, just standing there, with those eyes. The second she saw him, she lost her resolve, and collapsed into his arms. She hated when she did this, when she lost it like this, especially in front of Luke, but she couldn't help it. She really needed a hug, and Luke was there to give her one, plain and simple, no questions asked.

Seeing him now, she realized how much she needed him, and she hoped she hadn't sounded too ungrateful earlier. As much as Luke wanted to help, she knew that handling Rory was something she needed to do on her own. It was something she always had done on her own, and for the most part, it seemed to work well that way.

As if reading her mind, Luke broke the silence with, "Hey. I know you said you didn't need any help, and I respect that, but I just came over to bring you something."

Lorelai stepped away from him and wiped the tears away. "What?"

"You have to let me in first."

"Right, right, sorry. I kind of attacked you there."

Luke closed the door and took off his jacket, making himself comfortable. He reached into his back pocket, producing a napkin from the diner with the words, "I love Lorelai Gilmore. Don't tell anyone" written on it. Lorelai took one look at what he was trying to hand to her, and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, man," she said, giggling, "I knew you were never going to shut up about that."

"I just don't understand why you would want to keep a stupid napkin."

"Oh, you want to play that game? Ok, tough guy, give me your wallet."

"What?" exclaimed Luke, "No way."

Lorelai was not taking no for an answer, and reached into his back pocket, brandishing his wallet. "Wow, that was way too easy," she mumbled.

"I'm letting you win because you're sad," said Luke, "now give that back to me."

"No way!" said Lorelai, flying up the stairs with his wallet in her hand. Luke had no choice but to follow her.

Lorelai, with Luke hot her heels, ran into her bedroom and plopped on the bed, closing the door behind them.

She started rifling through his wallet, pulling out a twenty. "Hmm… a twenty… that's all you have?"

"Really? I thought I had more than that. Oh that's right, I must've given that hundred to the woman who left my apartment this morning. What was her name? Brandi? Staci? Something like that. Nice girl."

"Ok, now I'm keeping this, thanks," said Lorelai as she slipped the bill into her pocket.

She continued to search through his wallet, completely fascinated by the idea of searching through Luke's stuff, while Luke was absolutely horrified, because he knew exactly what she was about to find and that he was desperately losing at this game. She pulled out a tiny piece of paper, pretending to be shocked.

"Oh, and what's this? I believe this is a horoscope I gave you… what was that? EIGHT YEARS AGO? What are you still doing with this stupid thing? Throw this away."

"Not a chance. That horoscope is the reason we're sitting here right now. You think you ever would've slept with me if I hadn't told you that story?"

"Yeah, how many women have you said that to?"

"You would like to know, wouldn't you?"

Tired of this game, and a little bit insulted, Lorelai looked down into his wallet again, pretty convinced she had already found everything she was going to, when she pulled out a wallet sized photo – of her and Rory when Rory was a baby. She held it up for a few seconds, and then looked at Luke in wonder.

"How do you have this? I don't even have this."

"You gave it to me."

"I did?"

"You said you hated the way you looked in it, so in an effort to clean out your photo album, you were giving them out to everyone you hated."

"Nice."

"I thought so."

She continued to look through his wallet, amazed at the amount of crap he managed to keep in there. Just as she was about to give up, she spotted what looked like a used tissue crumpled in the corner. She carefully pulled it out, not wanting to come into contact with whatever germs it held, and waved it in his direction.

"Luke, I think you have a –" she stopped, because as it unfolded, she realized it was the napkin she had written on a few days before. Oh, he was so not getting away with that one.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? Is this or this not my handwriting?"

"Gimme that!" grumbled Luke, grabbing the napkin out of her hand as he begun to shove everything back into was wallet. "I am so going through your purse."

This thought horrified Lorelai. For some reason, it was ok when it was Luke's stuff, and it totally flattered her to know that he was so sentimental, but the last thing she wanted was for Luke to know exactly what she kept in that purse of hers. She couldn't take the idea of him knowing that she had saved the cork from the champagne on their first date, or the tag from the mattress he had helped her move, or the receipt from the first time he had served her coffee. And she really couldn't take him knowing that she felt the need to carry all that crap around with her every day.

Putting his wallet back in its rightful place, Luke got up and started walking towards the door, in an effort to retrieve Lorelai's purse from downstairs. Lorelai blocked his exit, and reached up and pulled the hat off his head, "and by the way," she started again, "I believe I bought you this here baseball cap, that you wear every single day and never take off…" she finished that sentence with a kiss, hoping to distract him enough that he would forget all about his little trip downstairs. It worked momentarily, until Luke abruptly pulled away and tried to get around her. She grabbed him by his belt buckle, and then proceeded to take it off, mumbling, "I believe I bought you this belt as well…"

"What's your point, Gilmore?" Luke was having a hard time speaking, because Lorelai was already unbuttoning his pants.

"You owe me a lot of money."

"You still have my twenty bucks," Luke muttered. He was quickly losing track of this conversation while Lorelai did that thing she did with her lips on his neck.

"You'll get it back," she whispered into his ear, at which point they both completely lost interest in the rest of the conversation and tumbled back onto the bed.

It felt really good to be wanted, Lorelai thought, as their clothing was quickly discarded, and Luke had certainly succeeded in cheering her up. She wasn't sure if there was anyone else in the world who could do that just by coming over uninvited and offering nothing but his company. She remembered telling Michel that the only reason she was accepting Mike Armstrong's gifts was because it was nice to be wanted. She forgot that she already had that, right in front of her.

Later, Luke was sound asleep and Lorelai was restless. Sometime in the last few days, they had switched roles – Lorelai found she couldn't sleep her life away anymore, and Luke had made peace with whatever he was wrestling with at night. She crept downstairs and sat down at the kitchen table with a pint of Ben and Jerry's, staring forlornly at Rory's room, and wondering what was going to happen. Rory seemed apologetic about her incident, and they seemed to be on the same page regarding fixing the situation, but something was still off. She knew there were still details Rory hadn't told her, and she had a strange sense of foreboding about the days to come. However, she was already feeling a little bit more upbeat about tackling whatever it was, and she had only Luke to thank for that.

On a whim, she got a dollar bill out of the 'rainy day' fund, and wrote on it with a Sharpie.

_Here's your money back. Don't spend it all in one place._

_You're a lifesaver (like the candy!). Thank you._

Surveying her note, she decided that it was sufficient, and went upstairs to slip it into his wallet.

* * *

The next day, after barely surviving the hell instigated by everyone with the last name 'Gilmore,' Lorelai drove down the highway between Hartford and Stars Hollow, blasting the radio, wondering what had happened. Where had she gone wrong, she thought, that her perfect, smart, beautiful daughter had messed up so royally? What kind of mother was she that she had let her daughter do this? And then it occurred to her that she was a great mother, the best in fact, and that this time, perhaps Rory's misgivings were completely her own. That fact saddened her even more, because she knew there was nothing she could do about it. That didn't mean she wasn't going to try though. Lorelai could live with the slight attitude problem Rory was sporting at the moment. She could even live with the boyfriend from hell Rory had. What she could not live with was Rory dropping out of school simply because it was too hard, or whatever she thought. She was not going to let Rory screw up her life like that. She had never let her quit like that before, and she wasn't going to now. She just had no idea how she was going to get Rory to listen. Especially not with the royal family hanging around over there, trying to convince Rory that she was destined to become Princess of Genovia or whatever.

Lorelai walked into the diner in a daze, already on autopilot. "Rory's dropping out of Yale," she announced, telling Luke of her and Rory's ruined plans.

"I know you think you have this under control, but I can help," said Luke, with such determination it startled her.

It dawned on her that to love her was to love Rory just as much, something that Luke had probably understood way before she did, which already put him way ahead of the game. She couldn't remember another man, even Christopher, taking such an interest in Rory's life. In fact, she couldn't remember anyone taking such an interest in _her_ life. She had always made a point of handling everything herself, because she had to. And now here was Luke, telling her that she, in fact, didn't have to handle everything herself.

As Luke was ranting (did he just say he wanted to kidnap Rory? She had kind of tuned out), it hit her. This was it, this was what she had been looking for. Suddenly, all of the little things he had done for her, and for Rory for that matter flashed through her mind, and didn't seem so little anymore. In fact, it was just occurring to her that they had done seemingly little things for each other for so long, that she couldn't remember what life had been like before him, and she didn't care to. The moments flashed through her mind like a slideshow, so vivid they made her current situation seem unimportant.

The time he had baked a cake for Rory's 16th birthday. When he dropped everything to help her find Rory's escaped science project, even though he thought she had gone completely nutty. The chuppah he had built for her, even though she now knew how much that must have killed him, still decorating her front lawn. The time he offered to singlehandedly rid her house of termites. Attending Rory's graduation. Moving Rory's stuff into her dorm. Lending her money and a shoulder to cry on just so she could achieve her dreams. Bringing her food when she was simply too lazy or overworked to walk the half mile to the diner. Not letting her get away with her usual array of bullshit.

Buying his father's boat, even though she knew it would start an argument. Arranging Louie's funeral. Helping him find an apartment so he and Jess wouldn't kill each other, even though she could care less whether Jess lived or not. Picking him up from jail (what was with people calling her from jail?). Not letting him get away with his usual array of bullshit. The list went on and on, and suddenly, everything made sense, and she couldn't believe she was only now realizing this.

Listening to him talk about Rory as if she were his daughter, she had to admit that he could probably kick Rory's ass much more effectively than she could. And that was what she needed. Someone to pick up the slack. Someone to talk some sense into her daughter when it all became too much for her to handle on her own. Wasn't that what she had always wanted? A partner in crime? Maybe Tevye and Golde had it right, she mused. Spending 25 years sharing your bed with someone, starving together, fighting with each other, cooking for someone – if that wasn't love, what was? The realization hit her like a ton of bricks, and she didn't notice that she was gazing at Luke as if he had suddenly turned into George Clooney.

Her gaze made Luke stop talking. She looked like either she had had too much to drink, or she was plotting her evil revenge on Rory and her parents. Either way, the situation wasn't looking very good to him. "What?" he inquired, as gently as he could muster. He didn't want to lose momentum, for he still had a lot to say about Rory's temporary bought with stupidity of the Paris Hilton variety, but he worried that Lorelai was really losing it.

Luke's sudden change in tone pulled Lorelai out of her reverie and back into the moment. She stared at him a second longer. "Luke will you marry me?" she blurted, before she could stop herself. Despite the fact that her heart rate skyrocketed at hearing those words come out of her own mouth, it felt right. No one else was going to understand her the way Luke did, and besides, if she waited for Luke to suggest marriage, it might take another nine years. Luke looked as taken aback as she felt, though the look on her face said the opposite.

"What?" he asked again. He could not believe what he was hearing. Something like, "I'm going to kill my parents" would have been more apropos in this situation. Nowhere in this conversation was he expecting a marriage proposal. Is that what that was? Man, Lorelai's brain worked in strange ways. Not that this was surprising to him, but of all the non-sequitors, that's what came out of her mouth? She couldn't possibly mean that, could she?

"What about the mulling?" said Luke, much to his chagrin. Nice one, Danes.

"What?" Now it was Lorelai's turn to be dumbfounded.

"The meeting, with the job and the bath products and the mulling." Luke couldn't believe he was bringing this up now, but his uncertainties got the better of him. They still hadn't come to an agreement about the house, or what they would do if Lorelai was in fact pregnant, or even where they were going to have dinner the next night.

Lorelai couldn't help but smile at Luke's unfounded insecurities. "I'm not selling the inn, Luke."

"But I –"

Before he got a chance to finish, Kirk and Taylor, followed by about twenty sweaty cyclists came loudly bursting in to the diner. Kirk and Taylor were mid argument. Damn, thought Luke, did I not remember to lock that door? Before he knew what was happening, the crazies had taken over all of his tables, and Lorelai was nowhere in sight. He considered calling Lane so he could take care of the Lorelai situation, but decided to let it marinate for a while instead.

* * *

Meanwhile, after they had been interrupted by Stars Hollow's own version of Lenny and Squiggy, Lorelai had to get out of there. She didn't have the patience to wait around while Kirk and Taylor finished arguing about exactly what time the bike race had finished. The look on Luke's face when she had asked him to marry her told her all she needed to know, and she wasn't ready to face that rejection yet.

She went home, changed into pajamas, and threw herself onto her bed. Had she really proposed to Luke? She couldn't believe that her amazing ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time had possibly messed up the best relationship she ever had, yet again. What was wrong with her? And what was that look anyway? Was he shocked? Angry? Confused? She wasn't sure, but happiness definitely wasn't in there. Sure, Luke didn't exactly walk around smiling like the Cheshire cat, but she knew when he was happy and that wasn't it.

She desperately wanted Luke to know how much she needed him, wanted him to be there with her for the rest of her life. But did she have to say it like that? Did she have to scare the crap out of him, prompting him to never want to speak to this crazy woman again? Hadn't she promised him, a long time ago, that stealing his answering machine tape was the last crazy thing he would ever have to endure from her? And now she goes and does this? She had totally blindsided him with that proposal, and now she was expecting him to know exactly what to say? She knew that wasn't fair, yet she couldn't help expecting it. Talk about crazy, she thought, while she picked up her cell phone.

Halfway through dialing, she remembered, and almost hung up. But she decided to go through with it anyway, on the off chance that Rory would actually answer her phone. No such luck.

"This is Rory. Leave a message."

"Hey kid," Lorelai started, trying not to cry or sound upset. She didn't think it was working. "I think we really need to talk. Call me."

Lorelai hung up with an exaggerated sigh, and threw the phone against the wall, where it made an elaborate sqeaking noise, and then died. She so desperately needed to talk to Rory right now, but no way in hell was she getting back in her car and driving all the way back to Hartford. If Rory wanted to talk to her, she could call her, or come over, or e-mail her, none of which she'd been very good at doing recently. Lorelai knew she was being dramatic, but she couldn't help herself. She turned out the lights and cried herself to sleep, forgetting all about the dead cell phone sitting on her floor.

* * *

Later that night, when Kirk, Taylor, and their posse had all left and Luke had finally finished cleaning the diner and convincing himself that Lorelai was not, in fact, coming back, he trudged up the stairs to his apartment and threw himself on his bed. He had no idea why Lorelai had run out like that, but if he knew her at all, he knew that her disappearance signified that, for whatever reason, she must be pretty angry with him right now. He almost got up and ran over to her house, but decided against it, picking up the phone instead. She didn't answer her house phone, and her cell was turned off, which pretty much confirmed his fear that she wasn't interested in talking to him.

He knew he should have followed her earlier, but he absolutely could not bear the thought of leaving Kirk and Taylor alone in his diner. One of them might take their shirts off or something. Besides, he wasn't exactly sure what he was going to say to her. Of course he wanted nothing more than to whisk her away somewhere, marry her, and spend his life with her. But he still wasn't entirely convinced that's what she wanted. What if she decided, two years from now that she was bored of Stars Hollow, sold her inn after all and spent her time traveling everywhere, without him? What if Christopher showed up again, and she decided that she needed to be with him after all? He was pretty sure chances of that happening were null and void, and that now he was just making excuses, but still, you never know.

Besides, he couldn't say yes now if she was going to be this angry with him. Obviously he had not said the right thing earlier, but she had completely blindsided him with her proposal and he was surprised. Good surprised, but still. He needed to tell her all of this, but he couldn't if she wasn't going to answer her damn phone, he thought. Maybe if they both slept on it, they would be more rational in the morning, he thought, as another idea came to him, and he got up and flew out the door.

When he approached Lorelai's house, it was completely dark, save for the lights in her jeep that she had left on. He didn't have patience to locate the spare key, so he tried the door, and sure enough, it was unlocked, as usual. He bypassed getting angry about the open door, and went right to rummaging through Lorelai's kitchen. He finished his task quickly, and then snuck back out just as quietly as he came in. On his way out, he also turned on the porch light and turned off the lights in Lorelai's Jeep.

* * *

The next morning, Luke woke up with a nagging feeling in his gut. He wasn't even sure he had slept at all, but either way, something was bothering him. He still hadn't talked to Lorelai after they were rudely interrupted by the Stars Hollow mental institution and she ran out. He knew it must be killing her that he hadn't answered her question yet, but he had a plan, dammit. Besides, if she was actually mad at him, and was going to yell at him, well, that could wait. He had other things on his mind that he thought were more important to resolve first.

Before he could stop himself, he was in his truck driving towards Hartford, with a box full of food on the passenger seat, and a gift wrapped book sitting next to it. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was have any kind of contact with Richard and Emily Gilmore, but he had to make sure Rory was ok. If she and Lorelai were not speaking, something told Luke that Rory probably wasn't doing so well, and he had to see for himself what the problem was. Plus, he knew firsthand that spending any kind of time at all with Richard and Emily could lead to disaster, and if Rory had to spend all day hanging out with them, the least he could do was bring her some greasy food to eat and possibly something to read, although he was pretty sure she already owned every book known to man.

He pulled up to the Gilmore mansion, and tried to figure out if there was a way to get to the pool house without being discovered by the owners of said mansion. He poked around a bit, and immediately found Rory lounging by the pool in a skimpy bikini. He watched her for a second, wondering when the hell Rory had gotten old enough to wear a bathing suit like that, and when the hell she had even bought that. Upon second glance though, he realized that he recognized the bathing suit, and that it probably belonged to Lorelai, and then he wondered whether Lorelai knew that Rory had borrowed it. He also found himself thinking that women share weird things…

"…Luke!"

"Hi Rory."

"What are you doing standing there like that? You scared the crap out of me."

"Oh, uh, sorry. I brought you some food. I thought you might need it, you know, after eating foie gras three meals a day over here."

"Thanks," said Rory, getting up and pulling on a T shirt and shorts.

"Could we, maybe, go inside for a few minutes?" Luke was suddenly very uncomfortable and wondered what the hell he had even been thinking in the first place.

Rory looked at him quizzically, but obliged. "Uh, sure. Come on."

Luke grabbed the box and followed Rory into the pool house, and looked around in amazement. The place was bigger than his apartment and Lorelai's house combined, and it was only meant for lounging in between swimming and sipping martinis or whatever rich people did? He couldn't believe it. He quickly regained his composure though, and started putting the food away in Rory's fridge. He couldn't believe he was putting food away in a fridge that belonged to Rory, but not Lorelai.

"So how's it going over here at chez Gilmore?" he asked, trying to hide his disdain.

Rory wasn't buying it, though. "Does mom know you're here?" she said as a response.

"No, and I'd like to keep it that way please."

"Really?"

"Really. I just wanted to make sure you're ok."

"I'm ok," Rory said, a little too quickly. "Thanks Luke."

Luke finished putting all the food away, and leaned on the refrigerator. "So can I ask you something?"

Rory didn't say anything, which Luke took as permission to talk to her anyway.

"You like my burgers, right?"

"Way to fish for compliments there, buddy. You trying out a new recipe or something?"

"I'm serious."

"Yes, Luke, I love your burgers. Why do I all of a sudden feel like that annoying little kid from _The Cosby Show_ – you know, the one who didn't even belong to the Huxtables yet still always had to sit through Cliff's lectures?"

"Do you want to know how long it took me to get those burgers right?"

Rory rolled her eyes, but played along anyway. "How long?"

"Three years, ten months, 2 days and 2 hours."

Rory burst out laughing. She couldn't stop. "Seriously, Luke? How hard is it to make a hamburger?"

"Have you ever tried?"

"Good point."

Rory considered this for a moment, and decided that despite the fact that she felt like she was about to reenact a scene from a bad 80's sitcom, she really did want to know more about Luke's life. She realized, right then, that she never had taken the time to find out how he ended up where he did, which, when she thought about it, was actually a really good place for him.

"Did you always want to own a diner?" asked Rory, knowing how dorky she sounded, and also knowing that she might not get much of a response.

"Me? No way. I mean, I loved helping my dad out at the store, and always wanted to work there, but mainly because I wanted to be like him. It's not like I ran around Stars Hollow telling everyone what I wanted to be when I grew up," Luke added pointedly

"I did that once," Rory retorted.

"And every Halloween, when you would put on your mother's glasses, carry a pencil around and tell everyone you were an ace reporter."

"Are you going to continue the story or not?"

"When my dad died, I realized I didn't love the hardware business like he did. I mean, can you imagine, loving the hardware business? What is so fascinating about selling toilet plungers and screwdrivers all day long? Can you imagine trying to explain the difference between a Phillips head and flathead to people like Kirk all day long?"

Rory's face was blank.

"Right. Anyhow, I knew how to cook, so I turned the store into a diner. I thought it would be more fun."

"Was it?"

"Not really," admitted Luke, "but at least I tried it, and still managed to keep my dad's store around." Rory didn't say anything, still contemplating Luke's words, when Luke remembered that he'd had the same conversation with Lorelai a few years back. He remembered telling her that Rory looked up to her the same way he once looked up to his dad.

They stared at each other a few seconds longer, at a loss for what to say next. Rory got up and fidgeted, and Luke could tell she wanted to be left alone. He started for the door, but not before he reached into the bottom of the box and handed Rory the book he had so expertly gift wrapped with newspaper and some tin foil.

"I know it's not, like, professionally gift wrapped or anything, but I thought you might want something to read. Not that you don't own every book known to man, but sometimes you need a new perspective on an old one."

"Thanks, Luke," said Rory, completely blown away by his gesture, and started to pick at the wrapping.

"You can open it after I leave. Mushy stuff makes me kind of queasy."

"Got it."

With that, Luke was out the door and back in his truck, headed back to Stars Hollow. It took all of Rory's strength not to cry like a five year old and beg him to take her home with him. She could really use her bed right now, she thought, that was if her mother hadn't turned it into a sewing room or something yet. Instead, she opened the book Luke had given her and looked at the cover. It was a well worn copy of _Pippi Longstocking_, probably from the 50's – perhaps even a first edition, thought Rory. She was impressed. She opened it, and saw the scribbling on the inside front cover.

_Rory,_

_I found this in my apartment, buried between my old baseball glove and my sister's pot stash (don't ask). It must have belonged to my mother._

_You're an amazing kid, just like Pippi. Don't lose heart._

_Love,_

_Luke_

Not knowing what to do with herself, Rory did the only thing she could muster. She choked back the tears, put the book on the shelf, next to the textbooks she had just brought from school, and went back outside to forget that the last few days had even happened.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Luke and Rory will meet again, don't worry. I just had some other things to take care of first.

Thanks to **presssecretary** for the beta.

Meanwhile, Lorelai was going crazy. She wasn't exactly sure what going crazy felt like, but she was pretty sure it was close to how she felt. Somehow, she had forced herself to go to work, but, much to Michel's annoyance, was having trouble concentrating on anything beyond her own thoughts. She thought she saw Manny chase Michel with a cleaver several times, but she couldn't be sure. She was also quite surprised that after she and Luke were interrupted the night before, more people in Stars Hollow hadn't gotten wind of what they had been talking about. Every minute that went by made her wonder more and more why Luke hadn't called. Even though they had agreed (or he had told her by way of post it) to meet later, she still half expected at least a phone call from him, but she got nothing. She was dying to know what he was thinking, but knew how much he hated being bombarded with questions, especially when it came to their relationship. This was important, though, and she couldn't understand why he wouldn't just talk to her already.

That morning, she had woken up and looked out the window to find that the porch light was on. Upon further glance at the yard, she vaguely remembered leaving the lights on in her Jeep, although now they were turned off. That could mean one of two things – either the battery had actually died, or… Luke. She decided it was probably the latter, and then wondered what the hell Luke was doing sneaking around her house in the middle of the night. She trudged downstairs, in desperate need of coffee, when she remembered that she had drunk it all the night before. "Great," she muttered to herself. Now she was going to have to go to Luke's. Before she could talk herself out of going over there, though, she noticed a yellow post it stuck to her coffeemaker, and pulled it off to read it.

_I noticed you were out of coffee._

_Come find me later._

Lorelai opened the coffeepot, and sure enough, it was filled with Luke's coffee. She pushed the on button, wondering what the hell "come find me later" was supposed to mean. Could he be any more cryptic? Oh well, she sighed, putting the post it in her purse, at least it didn't say "I'm sorry. I can't. Don't hate me." Although she wasn't sure "come find me later" was any better.

She stopped replaying the morning's events long enough to notice Michel rush by her one more time, and stopped him. "Michel, are you sure there are no messages for me?"

"You are standing right next to the phone."

"I know, but I thought, maybe if I had gone to the bathroom or something, and you forgot to –"

"Lorelai, I have not seen you leave that desk for the past four hours. Why don't you just call him already?"

"Fine. Watch the desk, I'm going over there."

Lorelai reluctantly left the inn, and set off for Luke's, wondering if four hours counted as "later." She had to get to the bottom of this, and couldn't believe that had spent all this time not talking to each other. Where the hell was he anyway? If she knew Luke at all, either he was supremely angry with her, or he was planning something. Either way, she had to know, and she didn't care if she was pushing his boundaries.

On her way through Stars Hollow, she was stopped by almost colliding head on with Gypsy.

"Lorelai!" she exclaimed, "is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"You and Luke? You're getting married?"

Wow, thought Lorelai, I have really underestimated how fast news travels in this town.

"Uh, no, not to my knowledge."

"What? You mean he said no?" Gypsy asked incredulously, as she started fishing for something in her pocket.

"Uh, well, I –" Lorelai started as she saw Gypsy pull out a pink ribbon and try to fasten it to her shirt, "what are you doing with that? Put that away!" she cried, hoping no one else saw them.

"So you're not getting married, and you're not breaking up?"

"Uh, sure," said Lorelai, "let's go with that. Bye!"

With that, Lorelai hurried away, trying to get to the diner without anyone else getting involved in her love life.

* * *

Once Luke was convinced Rory wasn't lying in a ditch somewhere, being escorted around the country club by her grandparents, or spending all her time canoodling with her boyfriend in that pool house, he had to get back to business. He had a diner to run after all, and oh yeah, a girlfriend who had proposed to him and still hadn't gotten an answer. He was still convinced Lorelai was mad at him though, especially since his cell phone was not ringing incessantly, and he had to find a way to rectify the situation. However, he still had no idea what he was going to say to her. Was marriage really what she wanted? Really? Was it possible that all this time he had been stalling on confessing his plans for the future, she had been thinking the same thing? Never in a million years had he dreamed that Lorelai Gilmore would be proposing to him. How could he say no? Yet, he wasn't entirely positive that she was done with the 'mulling,' or that she wouldn't grow bored with him once this Rory thing was resolved. He knew he was being silly and letting his insecurities get to him, but still.

He stopped debating internally for long enough to notice that his gas gauge was extremely low, and stopped at a gas station so that he wouldn't end up having to call Lorelai to come get him when he was stuck on the highway. That certainly wouldn't make the situation any better. He got out of the car, and went to pay the attendant. However, upon opening his wallet, he remembered that Lorelai had taken his last twenty and that he still hadn't made it to an ATM. He handed his credit card to the attendant and glanced at his wallet again, noticing that there was money in it after all. He pulled out the dollar bill that Lorelai had written on. He had no idea when she had done that, or even how long that had been sitting there, but it made him smile nonetheless. In fact, that simple gesture was enough to put butterflies in his stomach and a huge grin on his face, and right then, he thought, if Lorelai had the ability to do that just by writing on a dollar bill, how could he not marry her? As illogical as he knew that was, it made sense to him, and suddenly, he couldn't get back to Stars Hollow fast enough. Actually, he thought, this can't wait, and he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Lorelai's. Much to his dismay, he got the voicemail once again. After leaving the 17th message in 24 hours on her phone, he decided he would have to just wait until he got back home to talk to her.

Late in the afternoon, when she had had enough of the sun, Rory trudged back into the pool house and slumped onto the couch, not bothering to put clothes on over her bathing suit. Actually, make that Lorelai's bathing suit. Rory wasn't sure if her mother had noticed that she had borrowed it (she was going to give it back at some point), but it looked fantastic on her, so she didn't much care. She grabbed the remote and started flipping through the 375 channels on the plasma TV that Emily had recently had installed. She had no idea what her grandparents were going to do with that many cable channels, but she was enjoying it just the same.

* * *

Rory knew she was supposed to be looking for a job, but seeing as she had no idea what she was going to do with the rest of her life, she didn't know where to start. She had promised her grandfather that she would find one, and that if she didn't find one within two weeks, he could have one his friends employ her as their secretary. She knew she was good at that, at least, but she wanted to at least pretend to have some semblance of independence before she went crawling back to the Gilmores. She debated calling Luke and finding out if he needed any help at the diner, but she was pretty sure that neither he nor Lorelai would be fond of that idea.

Out of ideas for the moment, she instead reveled in the idea that she could, in fact, spend the afternoon lounging around in her bathing suit watching television. She finally landed on a _Felicity_ rerun, and gave up flipping through channels. She hadn't much cared for this show when it was on – she found that she couldn't understand why a smart college student like Felicity would waste all her time whining about which boy to date. She had especially hated that episode, the one they happened to rerun all the time, where Felicity blew off her final in order to spend more time in bed with her boyfriend. She remembered wondering why the hell anyone would do that. However, now she was finding that when looking at it as an afternoon soap opera, this show wasn't so bad, and she found herself getting lost in it. She was finally beginning to understand how Paris had gotten so addicted to soaps that one time, and let herself doze off while getting lost in the fictional world of college students.

_Rory sat on her bed, still in her school uniform, lost in thought. She thought she heard Mr. Medina's voice on the answering machine, but she couldn't be sure. He was saying something like 'don't lose heart…' _

_At that moment, she knew what she had to do, and she leapt off her bed, running into the living room._

"_MOM!" she shouted, not realizing that Lorelai was standing right next to her._

_Lorelai panicked, and immediately gave her a hug. "What is it, sweetie?"_

_Rory began to sob, saying, "I don't wanna go to Chilton anymore."_

"_Are you sure that's what you want? I mean I know what I said earlier, but I think you can do it. Mr. Medina thinks you can catch up. Even Il Duce over there thinks you can catch up. It'll be okay," said Lorelai._

_For some reason, that just sent Rory into an even bigger panic. "You said I don't have to go anymore and I'm telling you that I don't want to go anymore!" she cried._

"_Ok, ok," said Lorelai, "you don't have to go anymore."_

Rory awoke with a shiver, noticing that the glow outside had gotten dimmer, yet she was still in her bathing suit. She went into her room to change, still disoriented from sleeping in the middle of the day. She had already gone swimming, sunbathed, had a heart to heart (or as close as one could get) with Luke, and watched TV, and now she didn't know what to do with herself. She wondered what to think of the dream she had just had – she had almost forgotten about that incident at Chilton, and that so many people had encouraged her not to give up. What would've happened, she thought, if mom had let me drop out of Chilton that time? Or the time that I didn't want to go because of Dean? Or if she had let me drop that Spanish class that I swore I was failing? (If she remembered correctly, she had actually gotten an A in that class, and then thanked Lorelai profusely for it when they were lost in Granada that summer). She felt the sudden urge to talk to Lorelai, even though she knew she had disappointed her in a major way. She was getting the silent treatment from her, but Lorelai was always better at holding a grudge than she was anyway, and Rory went in search of a phone.

She dialed Lorelai's cell phone, but got no answer. It went straight to voicemail. However, when the voicemail picked up, the stupid thing wouldn't even let her leave a message, telling Rory that her mailbox was full.

"What the hell?" Rory wondered aloud, knowing that Lorelai carried that phone as if it was an appendage, and that there was no way Lorelai would have missed that many calls and not noticed. Something was up, and she was dying to know what was going on. She sat down at her computer, figuring that e-mail was probably the only way to get in touch with her at this point. She opened her e-mail program, hit 'new message,' and stared at the blank screen. And stared. And stared. Finally, she typed a short message, hit 'send' before she could delete it, and slammed her computer closed in disgust.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lorelai was back at the inn, trying to figure out where the hell Luke was. She had gone to the diner to 'find him,' as he had requested, but he wasn't there. She had called his cell phone several times, but he didn't answer it. If he was still mad at her, why was he asking her to meet him anyway? If he was going to turn down her proposal, couldn't he just do it and get it over with? She knew she had potentially messed things up with her bad timing, but now he wasn't even giving her a chance to explain. She had spent most of the morning thinking about it, and decided that despite her lack of finesse and possibly poor timing, she had meant what she said. She wanted to marry Luke more than anything in the world. Now she just had to find a way to tell him.

Tired of thinking about it, she started fidgeting with the computer on the desk, and realized she hadn't read her e-mail in several days. Not that she was expecting any messages, but she figured she should at least make sure the Hilton sisters hadn't, like, bought the Dragonfly without her knowledge or something. She went through her inbox, not finding anything particularly interesting. One from Mike Armstrong, with the subject line, 'What did you think?'; Another from Mike Armstrong, with the subject line, 'Please consider our offer. I'm eager to have you aboard;' A gig announcement from Lane's band saying something about a church; and several trying to sell her prescription drugs from Canada. She systematically deleted all of them, but just as she was about to hit the little 'x' in the corner of the screen, the computer flashed again at her. '1 new message,' it said. It was from Rory. Lorelai couldn't help but feel a little glimmer of hope as she opened it, although she wondered why Rory didn't just call her.

_Mom,_

_You never gave up on me. Don't start now._

_Love,_

_Rory_

_P.S. What the hell is wrong with your cell phone?_

Lorelai sighed as she read the message. She had no idea how to respond to that, or if she should at all. She stared at the screen for a little while, until the last line registered with her. There's nothing wrong with my cell phone, she thought, until she vaguely remembered throwing it at the wall the night before. She fished through her purse until she found it, and sure enough, the display was completely blank, and the casing was cracked in several places. She tried turning it on, to no avail. Finally, she grabbed the inn's phone, and called her cell phone number. "You have 17 new messages," her voicemail told her, and she started to feel really stupid.

Sure enough, they were all from Luke. Apparently she had been too busy crying and throwing phones at walls to notice that the phone in her house had been ringing, and Luke had gotten a little nutty trying to get in touch with her. As she kept listening to his voice on her phone, she felt stupider and stupider.

"Ok, you're not answering your phone which means you're either lying in a ditch somewhere or you're mad at me. If it's the first one, please call me," he said.

"Lorelai, where the hell are you? If you are mad at me, and don't want to talk to me, I'm sorry. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm sorry, ok? Now will you pick up the phone?"

And so on, until Lorelai couldn't take it anymore. She deleted all the messages and hung up, dialing Luke's cell phone. However, she didn't need to finish dialing, because right then, Luke appeared in the doorway. She rushed over to him and tangled him in a fierce embrace.

"Where the hell have you been?" she cried, much to Luke's amusement.

"I was at the diner."

"No you were not at the diner. You said to come find you, so I did, and then you weren't there, and my cell phone was broken, and –"

"—so you're not mad at me?" Luke cut her off.

"Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?"

"I don't know, Lorelai. A guy leaves you 17 messages and you don't call him back, I think he has reason to believe you might be mad at him. And you ran out so fast last night -- "

"Ok, first of all, I have asked you repeatedly to stop talking in the third person. It freaks me out. Second, you mean you're not mad at me? Third, did you really expect me to stick around so that the two loons over there could listen to the rest of our conversation?"

"Why would I be mad at you?"

"I don't know! You didn't say anything, you didn't call, you didn't come over."

"I did call," said Luke, matter of factly. As much as he wanted to add to that speech and tell her how much he did, in fact, want to marry her right then and there, he had to admit that he was kind of enjoying watching her squirm.

"Yeah, you really like my answering machine don't you?"

"Ok, are we done with this yet?"

"You're right. I'm tired just listening to myself," said Lorelai, calming down a little. She looked up at him, just glad they were done with that section of this evening's performance, and put her arms around his neck. "You have no idea what I went through last night. I actually got so mad at myself at one point that I threw the phone against the wall."

"That's a little bit dramatic, don't you think?"

"Yes, well, no one ever said I was the queen of cool."

"I'll give you that."

"Wait a minute. You still haven't answered my question, you know," said Lorelai, her heart racing again. She had gotten so caught up in seeing him again, that she had momentarily forgotten how they had gotten into this mess in the first place.

Luke hadn't, though. "I know," he said, with something resembling an evil cackle.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"A little bit."

"I swear Luke, your cruel sense of humor rears its ugly head at the strangest times."

"We're going out tonight. I'll pick you up at seven," said Luke, and kissed her softly. "Goodbye, Lorelai."

With that, he was gone.

* * *

Later, as Lorelai was rushing home to get ready for her date, her heart felt ten times lighter. She really didn't understand how her mood could change from so angst-ridden the night before, to so elated, especially when Luke hadn't even addressed her ill-timed proposal yet. However, she had a good feeling about tonight, whatever the outcome. She had to admit that his cruel joke still made her smile, and cheered her up immensely after the e-mail she had received from Rory. Only Luke could do that, she thought, which just made her want to marry him even more. As she drove through town, an idea sprang to mind. She got out at Doose's, and started gathering green things she thought might go into a salad or some such ridiculous dish. After she paid for the vegetables, most of which she didn't even know the names of, she pulled a pen out of her purse and wrote on the receipt.

_If you say yes, I'll let you watch me eat all of this stuff._

She threw the receipt in the bag, and headed to Luke's, praying he was already upstairs getting ready. It worked, because when she walked in, she only saw Lane and Kirk. She paid Kirk twenty bucks to deliver the bag to Luke, watched him to make sure he did it, and then set off for home. After all, she had a date to get ready for.

* * *

At seven fifteen, Lorelai's doorbell rang, just as she was making her way down the stairs, as best she could in the four inch heels she was wearing. When she opened the door, a very well groomed, well dressed (in the clothes she had bought him) Luke stood before her, handing her a rose. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed, "am I on _The Bachelor_?"

"Are you on the what?"

"C'mon, Luke," she said, peering around him, "I know there's a camera guy standing behind you somewhere."

"Lorelai, what on earth are you talking about?" Luke was having trouble comprehending words to begin with, because Lorelai was wearing the black dress he loved and that perfume that drove him crazy. He found himself unconsciously drawn to her, involuntarily touching her in places he wasn't quite sure were appropriate.

This amused Lorelai to no end, and she finally gave in and let him kiss her passionately. When his hands started to wander, she pulled away and looked at him sternly. "No way, mister. We have important things to discuss before we can do any of that."

"Yes we do. Let's go," said Luke, and Lorelai thought she detected a little mischievousness in his tone.

They got in the truck, and drove in overbearing silence to someplace Lorelai didn't recognize. "Where are you taking me to continue torturing me this fine evening?"

"You're gonna love it."

"Oh no. You're not taking me to some fancy restaurant where no one knows us just so you can ceremoniously dump me right in front of everyone, and tell me that you need to marry a Jackie not a Marilyn, are you?"

"Uh, no." Luke was pretty sure she was reciting the plot of some ridiculous chick flick that at some point she was probably going to make him watch, but decided not to inquire about it for now.

"Planetarium?"

"Seriously, where do you come up with this stuff?"

"Luke, you have to start watching more TV."

Suddenly, Luke pulled off the highway at an exit surrounded by nothing but trees and streetlights. Lorelai grew more and more skeptical as they drove further and further into the woods.

"Oh, my god, this is where you're taking me to kill me."

"Can you just stop talking?"

Finally, Luke pulled up to a deserted parking lot with a small, dimly lit stand in the corner. The sign was faded, but from what Lorelai could make out, it looked like it had an ice cream cone on it. Though the prospect of ice cream excited her to no end, she was a little worried about the fact that the place seemed to be deserted. Luke caught on to this and decided to tell her the story so that she wouldn't think he had actually brought her here to have her murdered.

"It doesn't say so on the sign, but this place is called 'Arthur's.' I went to summer camp –"

"-- YOU went to summer camp?"

"—around here, and our counselor used to let us sneak out and walk down here at night, where we would all eat our gigantic ice cream cones while walking the mile and a half back to camp, and then feel extremely nauseous by the time we got back. I think that may actually be the reason for my aversion toward ice cream."

"If you have an aversion towards ice cream, then why are we here?"

"Because you like ice cream, and if I remember correctly, this place makes the best ice cream."

Lorelai was amazed at how much she still didn't know about Luke, and how even though this was practically their 375th date, it still felt eerily like a first date. They walked up to the counter, and Lorelai ordered something with massive amounts of chocolate in it, which she ate while she and Luke sat on a spread out blanket in the bed of his truck.

"So, as much as I love seeing you get all GQ'd up, as you so eloquently put it, why did we have to get dressed up for this?" Lorelai inquired.

"Because _I_ love seeing you in that dress."

"Oh, so it was completely self serving. Nevermind the fact that I will inevitably get chocolate all over it and then have to dry clean it."

Luke ignored her and continued watching her eat, trying to figure out how to ease them into the conversation he knew was necessary.

"Can you stop watching me eat? It's creepy. Plus, if you don't get to the point soon, I'm going to stop eating this so I can throw it in your face," exclaimed Lorelai.

"Ok, ok. See, the thing is… here's the thing…" Luke stammered, unable to get out anything even closely resembling a sentence.

Lorelai couldn't believe she was about to do this _again_, but she couldn't take it anymore. "Luke, will you marry me?" she said again.

"Geez, Lorelai, of course I'll marry you."

Lorelai let out a little squeal, put down her ice cream and kissed Luke so fiercely she thought they'd never be able to part. When they finally broke, Luke started, "but…"

"But what?"

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"What do you mean? Of course I'm sure."

"It's just… all this time, I'd been dreaming about our future, buying houses and whatnot, and getting discouraged every step of the way because I thought you wanted more."

"More than what?"

"This. Us. Stars Hollow."

"Luke, what on earth are you talking about?"

"Look, that day that I ran into Dean, he said some things…"

"… Dean? What did he say to you? Oh man, I'm going to kick his ass."

"Something about me not being good enough, and you Gilmores always wanting more than I could provide you with, or something like that."

"And you listened to him?"

"Not at first, no. But then with the job offer, and the mulling, I couldn't help but think maybe he was right."

"Luke, I never had any intention of selling the inn. I love my inn, I love my friends, I even love Michel. I'm not going anywhere."

"Really? You're sure?"

"For the hundredth time, yes!"

Luke just looked at her in amazement, not knowing what to say next. Never in his wildest fantasies did he ever think this would happen. He was still in shock over the events of the past few days. He put both arms around her, and they both reveled in the moment for a while.

"Lorelai?" said Luke, quietly.

"Yes, hun?"

"Thank you."

She responded with an "Oh, Luke."

"What?"

"I just… I love you, that's all."

Luke didn't want to inform her that she had never said that to him before, or that she had just made his heart beat so fast he thought he might collapse right there. So instead, he ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her in for a long, lingering kiss.

On the way home, a silence had fallen over the inside of the truck while Luke drove and Lorelai looked contemplatively out the window. Luke wondered what was keeping her so quiet, and looked over at her, the look on her face telling him everything he needed to know.

"You thinking about Rory?" he asked gently.

"How do you do that?" asked Lorelai, amazed that he was able to read her thoughts so well.

"I have strange talents," replied Luke.

"That is true."

"She'll be okay," said Luke, sounding a little too confident for Lorelai's taste.

"How do you know that?"

"I just know."

"You don't know everything, you know."

"Damn, Kirk is going to be so disappointed when he finds that out."

"I just… I can't believe…"

"Don't you worry. Rory will be fine," he said again, a weird macho-dad thing creeping into his voice.

"Luke… do you know something that I don't?"

"I know lots of things you don't. Rory's a big girl, she can handle it."

Luke wasn't divulging any more information than that, but Lorelai had the sneaking suspicion he actually did know something she didn't. However, she didn't have the energy to try to get it out of him now, if she even could, and decided that anyway, she had the rest of her life to try to wrest his secrets out of him. She laughed a little to herself thinking about how much fun that would be.

* * *

Much later, Lorelai found herself awake again. As usual, Luke was dead to the world, so she crept out of bed and made her way downstairs. She decided she preferred her constantly tired state from the week before to this one, because at least then she could sleep. She wasn't a big fan of becoming well acquainted with the owl that lived in her backyard and memorizing the lines from the infomercial about the thingy that seals the bag of potato chips (although, she kind of wanted one). As she sat down on the couch and got ready to spend yet another night learning how to make smoothies out of ice cream and a magical blender, she noticed her laptop sitting on the coffee table. She couldn't remember the last time she'd even turned the thing on, and thought maybe she could find some solace on the internet. Upon turning on her computer, she also remembered that she still hadn't answered Rory's e-mail from earlier. She had so many things to tell her, she wasn't sure where to begin, or if she even wanted to tell her.

Lorelai couldn't help feeling slightly betrayed by Rory, as if Rory had suddenly decided to sit with the cool kids at lunch and hadn't invited Lorelai to join. She opened the file and looked at Rory's message again.

_Mom,_

_You never gave up on me. Don't start now._

_Love,_

_Rory_

The longer she stared at it, the more at a loss she felt. She finally decided to keep it short, though somewhere in the back of her mind, she wanted to write Rory a novel detailing every single thing that had happened in the last two days.

_Honey,_

_You know I won't._

_I love you._

_Mom_

_P.S. Can I have my black bikini back? I'm going to need it. And please wash it first. Twice._

Satisfied, for now at least, with her message, she hit 'send' and closed her computer. She sat on the couch and stared at it, feeling the tears threatening to spill over once again. She didn't think she had cried this much in her entire life, and yet, here she was, losing it again.

Upstairs, Luke awoke with a start, with an acute sense that something was horribly wrong. He glanced over and saw the empty side of the bed, once again. He sighed at the thought of Lorelai and her insomnia, and went downstairs to see if he could coax her back to sleep. All the lights were still off in the house, which made it hard for him to see where he was going, but he definitely heard a distinct sniffle coming from the living room.

"Lorelai?" he said from the doorway.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"No, what are _you_ doing?" he wondered in response. He made his way over to her, bumping into various pieces of furniture on the way.

"Sorry," she said, "you can turn a light on if you want."

Luke sat down next to her and kissed her hair. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's stupid. I just couldn't sleep."

"I usually find you down here watching that guy who can't pour milk, not crying in the dark. Talk to me."

"No, it's ok, really. I'm just emotional from the day we've had. Let's go back to bed," she explained, and stood up, taking his hand and dragging him up with her. Luke obliged, even though he knew there was something more bothering her. But he also knew she would tell him in due time, and they had the rest of their lives to discuss whatever it was anyway.

As she snuggled against him and tried to go back to sleep, Lorelai couldn't figure out why she didn't want to tell Luke about Rory's e-mail. She just didn't feel like talking about it. She couldn't put what she was feeling into words yet anyway. She knew she would tell him eventually, but first she had to figure out herself how to word it, something she was not used to having to figure out.

* * *

The next morning, about two hours after Lorelai had finally fallen asleep, she felt Luke stir next to her. He was being careful not to wake her, but it was already too late and she felt him getting out of bed. She grabbed his hand and stopped him, wondering, "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Uh, the diner."

"Why the hell would you want to do that?"

"I don't know, to run my business."

"This early?" she asked, not waiting for a response. She pulled him on top of her and kissed him. Pretty impressive, thought Luke, considering the fact that she hasn't even opened her eyes yet. He reluctantly pulled back and started to get up again.

"I'm sorry, but I really have to go. I haven't been paying much attention over there recently, and I need to make sure Lane hasn't turned it into a rave or something yet."

"Fine," grumbled Lorelai, "go. But you better be here when I get home tonight so I can have my way with you. And there better be coffee downstairs."

"You're bossy when you're tired."

"I'm always bossy."

Luke leaned down and kissed her cheek. "See you later," he said softly, and headed towards the bathroom. Lorelai smiled when she thought about the fact that from now on, he would be there every night when she got home.

* * *

Several hours later, Lorelai's alarm clock purred, pulling her out of a most excellent X rated dream starring a certain diner owner. She had let herself sleep in a little bit, but when she looked at the clock, she knew she had to get going. After taking her time in the shower and getting dressed, she made her way downstairs, hoping to god that there actually was coffee in her house, because as much as she would have liked to, she really didn't have time to stop at Luke's. Mostly because she didn't think she would leave once she got there. To her delight, there actually was coffee in the coffeepot, and she poured herself a generous cup, sitting down at the table to drink it. She knew she didn't have the luxury of spending ten minutes drinking her coffee, but on this particular morning, she really didn't care.

However, she almost spit out her coffee when she looked down at the table in front of her. There, right in front of her, was a white gold and diamond ring, sitting on top of a piece of Garfield stationary with Luke's handwriting on it.

_Thought you could use this._

_Have a great day_.

Once again, Lorelai was floored by Luke's ability to brighten her day five seconds after she woke up. 'He should, like, work for Hallmark or something,' she thought. She let herself get caught up in the moment, and just sat at her kitchen table, smiling into her coffee, most certainly for longer than she had time for.

A/N2: 'Arthur's' (at least I think that's what it's called, if it's still there) is an actual ice cream place in Washington, Maine, where we used to walk to from camp.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks to presssecretary for the beta.

Rory woke up to a huge burst of sunlight shining on her face, much to her annoyance. She glanced out the window and realized she had forgotten to close the blinds the night before. However, when she looked at the clock and saw that it was practically early afternoon, she leapt out of bed. Never in her whole life had she been able to sleep past seven, and now she was spending her summer sleeping until noon every day? Oh well, she thought, at least sleeping kills time.

She got up and foraged in the kitchen for coffee. Luckily, she found a can with enough left in it to hold her over, at least until she was dressed and could go out and get some more. She poured it into a mug, and almost spit it out when she tasted it. "Ugh," she muttered aloud, "this doesn't taste like Luke's." Unfortunately, it was all she had, so she decided to drink it anyway. She rummaged in the fridge and found some eggs, managing to whip them up into some type of meal. However, when she put them on a plate and attempted to sit down and eat, they looked like a special effect from a horror movie. "This doesn't look like Luke's," she muttered again.

Defeated, Rory took her gross supermarket coffee and sat down in front of her computer. The newspaper she had picked up the day before still sat, unopened, on her desk. She glanced at it and figured that reading about war and crime and stuff would probably make her feel worse, so she turned on her computer instead. 'You have 1 new message,' it told her, and she was happy just to have some sort of human contact, even if it was done through what was essentially a piece of plastic and some blinking lights. She read Lorelai's message, and immediately felt the tears threatening to spill over once again. What had she done wrong, she thought, that her once enviable relationship with her mother had gone from spending hours talking about movies and boys to four word e-mails dripping with subtext? And then it occurred to her that maybe she hadn't done anything wrong. Maybe this was the way it supposed to be when you were in college… 'but I'm not in college,' she thought, and angrily closed her computer once again.

Desperate for something to read, anything to take her mind off trying to talk to her mother, she opened the newspaper and happened to land on the classifieds. 'Oh well,' she thought, 'now's as good a time as any.' She skimmed through the help-wanteds, only seeing ads for things like "math teacher" and "assembly line worker." Finally, her eyes landed on a big, bold ad in the corner.

_**WTXX – Hartford's news station**_

_Local entertainment reporter seeks bright, eager and energetic intern. Duties include logging tapes, running errands, keeping track of what's hip and new in entertainment. If you find a unique story, you get to cover it. Perfect opportunity for journalism students. _

_You must be outgoing and willing to go that extra mile. Introverts need not apply. This internship is unpaid, and you must be receiving college credit. No exceptions._

_Deadline to apply is June 10. Send a resume and cover letter to_ _the e-mail address listed above._

Rory read the ad over and over again until she couldn't see anymore, not knowing what to do with the information in front of her eyes. It was if someone had made a list of all the things she sucked at and waved it in front of her face. Unable to take it anymore, she grabbed a highlighter and started furiously circling every ad she could find for a waitress, retail associate, or anything having to do with selling or publishing books. She knew she was under qualified for most of the publishing jobs, and way over qualified for the waitressing jobs, but was encouraged by the fact that there may indeed be something she could do, at least to pass the time.

Finally, she put the paper down, satisfied with her research for the morning. She picked up the phone to start calling some of the ads, but thought better of it. She'd never been one for randomly calling people she didn't know and then having to talk to them. Heaving a heavy sigh, she put the paper down and decided to put on her bathing suit and get some sun. She didn't notice that as she slammed her coffee cup down and walked away, some had splashed over, spilling right onto the e-mail address for the internship.

* * *

Later, Lorelai was at home, putting the finishing touches on a masterpiece she was creating for Luke – plating food, lighting candles, turning on the stereo. It occurred to her that what she was doing was eerily similar to the night Rory had dressed up like Donna Reed and cooked mashed potatoes and string beans for Dean. This thought made her giggle uncontrollably, which only made her want to call Rory more, which only made her want to cry. She pushed the thought out of her head, remembering what else had happened that night, and ran upstairs to change. She decided to wear the black dress again, only this time without the heels, because, well, 'it's a little too wife-in-the-50's,' she thought. 'Luke can just deal with seeing my bare feet,' she figured, and went to put the finishing touches on her hair and makeup. When she realized she hadn't bothered to put on underwear either, she figured Luke could just deal with that too. 

Lorelai was surprised when the doorbell rang several minutes later – were they still doing that polite thing? Then she remembered that Luke didn't have a key (she wasn't sure why), and that Luke being Luke, he probably thinks she actually locked the door. She opened it and leaned against it seductively, watching Luke's eyes get wider and wider.

"Are you going to come in or not?" she purred.

Luke was able to collect himself long enough to say, "Hey gorgeous," and slam the door behind him while they kissed. And kissed. And kissed some more. Luke didn't know what it was about that dress, but he knew he could not be responsible for where his hands ended up once she put it on. He suspected Lorelai knew that too. When his hands made their way down to her butt, he gasped a little.

"Lorelai," he growled.

"What?" she said sweetly.

"You're not wearing any underwear," he said, into her ear.

Lorelai pretended to be shocked. "I'm not! Must be laundry day," she said, while she unbuttoned his flannel and threw it on the floor. She grabbed his hand, in an attempt to drag him up to her bedroom. However, Luke stopped dead in his tracks when he caught sight of the kitchen table.

"Did you… cook?" he asked, in disbelief.

"Yes," she lied, "but it can wait till later."

Luke didn't actually believe her, but the thought left his head just as quickly as it entered, because Lorelai's hands were already under his shirt, her lips on his neck. As she dragged him up the stairs, she said, "Oh, man. This marriage thing is going to be so much fun."

"My thoughts exactly," echoed Luke.

Later, they ate by candle light at the kitchen table, Luke in his boxers and a T shirt, and Lorelai in a bathrobe. She sat down and propped her bare knee up on the table, ripping a piece of bread into shreds.

"Classy," said Luke.

"You're one to talk, Mr. I'm drinking a Bud Light in my underwear."

"So this is what it's going to be like now? We never have to get dressed again?"

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Lorelai giggled, and tossed a piece of bread at him.

"So, where did this food really come from?" he asked.

"I told you, I made it."

"Oh yeah? What's in it?"

"Well there's the thing over here, with the stuff… I got it from Sookie."

"You made Sookie cook when she just had a baby? I would have made dinner for us."

"First of all, I wanted to surprise you. Second, calm down. I did not make her cook. I simply went over there and asked for some simple recipes, and she just happened to have this stuff in her freezer."

"Wait a minute – you didn't happen to tell her we're getting married while you were over there, did you?"

"Well, I wasn't going to, I figured maybe we should keep it to ourselves for a couple of days, you know, so we could –"

"—I got it."

"But she saw the ring, and figured it out."

"Ah. My day makes so much more sense now."

"What are you talking about?"

"All afternoon, people kept coming in, looking at me, giggling, and then giving each other money. I swear, this town is part of some reality show that only Taylor knows about."

This sent Lorelai into hysterics. "Stars Hollow really needs a multiplex," she cried. "You know what they were doing, right?"

"Trying to annoy me?"

"Probably that too, but they were betting on how long it would take us to finally get married," she said, barely able to contain the laughter.

Luke was not amused. "Ah, geez," he said, which for some reason, just made Lorelai laugh even harder.

"Will you stop that?" he exclaimed, "This isn't funny."

"Yeah, it really is," she said. She looked at him again, eyes shining, and thought she saw a glimmer of a smile. Just for that, she tossed another piece of bread at him. Lorelai had no idea why she was finding all of this so hysterical, but she was enjoying herself immensely. 'I could get used to this,' she thought.

"You are so weird," grumbled Luke.

"Yeah, well, you're stuck with me," she said, smiling brightly.

As bizarre as this conversation was, Luke was glad to see her smiling again. Despite their newly engaged state, Lorelai had been so sad the last couple of days, and he knew she was thinking of Rory and her parents. He tried to cheer her up as best as he could, but after that one night when she had proposed, Lorelai refused to talk about Rory anymore. He had no idea whether the two had spoken, or even exchanged e-mails. He wondered briefly whether he should try to talk to Rory again – maybe take her out to a nice dinner or something, but couldn't come up with any answers.

Lorelai finally calmed down when she realized she hadn't eaten anything yet and that she was starving. The two watched their plates for a little while as they ate, enjoying the silence. At least Luke was. Lorelai hated silence, and knew that if she didn't change the subject soon, he was going to ask her about Rory again.

"So," she said, "when do you want to have the wedding?"

"How about right now?" suggested Luke. When Lorelai looked up at him, she realized that he wasn't really kidding.

"I think we missed the last flight to Vegas, Ross."

"How about tomorrow then?"

"Ok, J. Lo, where are we going to have a wedding tomorrow?"

"I don't care."

"Luke! Could you at least pretend to be interested? I know you're not into champagne fountains and the Romanovs and all that, but a wedding, even a small one, takes at least a little bit of planning."

"Fine. How about in two weeks? That gives us enough time to invite all ten people we know, but not enough time for your mother to rent out the Plaza."

"Brilliant. Should we have it in the town square?"

"How about the Dragonfly?"

"That's perfect! So… two weeks. That's… June 10, I think. Sookie will do the food, Lane can do the music -- "

"-- Have you told Rory yet?" Luke asked, knowing he was venturing into uncomfortable territory.

"No."

"Is she going to be invited?"

"Yes, I'm going to invite her," Lorelai said, a bit petulantly.

"When?"

"Luke, I'd really rather not talk about this right now."

"I think maybe we need to, Lorelai."

Lorelai regarded him for second, seeing the concern in his eyes. She knew he meant well, but she just couldn't put her thoughts into words. Not yet.

"I just… I can't," she said, sighing.

Without another word, Luke got up and walked around to her side of the table. He pulled her up and into his arms, resting his chin on her hair. "It's going to be ok, really," he said, kissing the top of her head.

Lorelai pulled away a little bit. "Would you stop saying that? It's irritating," she said, but smiled at him.

* * *

Later, as Luke began packing up his apartment, he thought about Lorelai and Rory. He and Lorelai had agreed to live in her house, for the time being at least, until he could find some way to get the Twickham house back from Kirk. He wondered whether Rory would feel comfortable having him live there, and then wondered if she was ever planning on living there again. She was almost 21, he mused, she probably wanted to move out on her own soon anyway. But he couldn't help but think that she probably needed Lorelai more than she was aware of. He hoped they would both come to their senses and figure out how to relate to each other again, or that at the very least, that he could somehow convince Rory to go back to school. He was okay with Rory choosing whatever career she liked, whatever boyfriend she liked, whatever status in life she liked. But something both he and Lorelai could not deal with was Rory dropping out of school. She had made it through Chilton with flying colors, he thought, and she could certainly find her way through the rest of Yale. She just needed a little push. 

As he was absently putting odds and ends in boxes, not really paying attention to what he was throwing where, he suddenly looked down at all the crap he had accumulated over the years of living in that tiny apartment. Besides the memories and tchotchkes left behind by his dad, he realized that he had little pieces of Lorelai, and Rory for that matter all over the place too. He picked up what looked like a child's coloring book from the top of one of the boxes, and started to flip through it. Upon second glance, he realized it was a storybook written by a child. He had no idea where it came from. He certainly had not been a writer, and he at least knew how to color within the lines. His sister couldn't really put a sentence together until she was thirteen, so that was out of the question, too. He flipped to the end, where it said, "by Rory Gilmore." The back cover also had a note.

_To Luke:_

_I wrote this story for you because you always give me coffee, even though you say I shouldn't be allowed to have it._

_Love,_

_Rory Gilmore_

Luke laughed to himself, remembering when Rory went through the phase where she referred to herself as 'Rory Gilmore' all the time. He remembered Lorelai getting so annoyed by it that she had to order extra brownies every time she came in, just to get through the day.

As he continued to rid his shelves of miscellaneous trophies, pictures, books, and just general stuff, he came across a folder full of photos. He recognized them immediately as Rachel's – some in black and white, some in color, almost all containing some perspective on Stars Hollow that only she could see. Not wanting to open that can of worms, he quickly shoved the folder to the bottom of a box. However, one fell out and landed right on top – the one she had taken of him and Lorelai at the firelight festival. He picked it up, and looked at it in awe. 'We're such idiots,' he thought. They were clearly gazing at each other in a way that he knew he had never looked at Rachel, or anyone else for that matter. Right away, he understood how Rachel had seen it so clearly at the time, even though he hadn't.

He sat down at the kitchen table and stared at it a little while longer. He was amazed that a picture taken by his ex girlfriend could make him this happy. Finally, he turned it over, wrote on the back of it, and stuck it in an envelope. He put it aside, and decided to call it a night.

* * *

The next morning, Lorelai appeared at the diner a little before seven, bleary eyed and in desperate need of coffee. The diner was crowded, and the only place she could find to sit was next to Kirk at the counter. She sat down and rested her head on the counter. 

"Hey!" shouted Luke.

"Ahh! No coffee yet!"

"How many times have I told you not to do that?"

"I can't understand you because I've been sitting here for three whole minutes and I still have no coffee."

Luke shook his head in annoyance, and poured her a cup of coffee, which Lorelai downed in record time.

"I need more."

"Jeez, will you slow down?"

"Luke, if we're going to do this every morning for the rest of our lives, it's just going to make every day feel longer."

Luke surrendered and just put the coffee pot down in front of her.

"Here. Go nuts."

"Thank you."

Suddenly, they both realized that Kirk had been watching this exchange with a great deal of interest, shifting in his seat and fidgeting.

"What, Kirk?" they said at the same time. Spooked by their ability to speak in unison, they glared at each other.

"Well, I know you two are getting married," said Kirk.

"Yes we are, Kirk," said Lorelai, not even trying to hide her annoyance.

"Lorelai, Luke, I would like to offer you my services," said Kirk, sounding very official. He gestured towards a now-empty table and said, "May we sit down and talk?"

Lorelai and Luke looked at each other, barely able to contain the laughter that erupted once they made eye contact. "Sure Kirk," said Lorelai, "let's do that."

She let him lead the way, dragging Luke behind her. "What are you doing?" he whispered in her ear.

"Let's see what he wants. This could be fun," she replied.

Luke and Lorelai sat next to each other across from Kirk, Luke looking very impatient.

"I would like to perform your wedding ceremony," said Kirk, very seriously.

"You want to do what?" said Luke.

"You see, I recently became an ordained minister—" this elicited a small snort from Luke, followed by a slap on the arm from Lorelai.

"Yes, continue, Kirk," she said, trying to be polite.

"I recently got ordained on the internet, so I could offer my services to my friends here in Stars Hollow."

"Aww," said Lorelai, "it's like our own Joey. I always wanted one."

"Our own what?" asked Luke.

"You see, Luke –"

Kirk cut her off, "—may I?"

"Go ahead, Kirk," said Lorelai.

"On the television show _Friends_, episode number 162, entitled 'The One With the Truth About London,' the character Joey becomes ordained on the internet so he can officiate at the wedding of his best friends, Chandler and Monica. You two are the best friends I have, and I would like to do the same for you."

They looked at each other again, and had to try not to laugh, at which point, Lorelai decided to just stare at the table for the rest of the conversation. As weird as Kirk was, she didn't want to offend him, because she knew how empty his life was, and she knew how weirdly attached to Luke he was. She supposed she couldn't blame him, because after all, she had a bit of an attachment to Luke as well, but at least hers would be legal soon.

"You want to marry us, Kirk!" Luke exclaimed.

"What he means is, we just haven't decided exactly what type of wedding we're going to have yet," said Lorelai, as genuinely as she could muster.

"Not a problem," said Kirk, "I can do all sorts of weddings, all different religions. I do Bar Mitzvahs and christenings too."

"How resourceful of you, Kirk," said Lorelai, and then, "we'll think about it, ok?"

With that, they exchanged thank yous, and Kirk was on his way. Lorelai looked over at Luke, and they both cracked up.

Once they regained their composure, Lorelai stood up. "I have to go," she said, "we'll talk about this later." She gave him a quick kiss, and flew out the door, leaving Luke wondering what the hell just happened. Had Kirk just offered to officiate at their wedding because of something he had seen on a television show? And did Kirk just call him his best friend? Sometimes he really thought it would be easier to just buy a bunch of straightjackets wholesale and get it over with.

* * *

Several hours later, Lorelai was contentedly traipsing around Manhattan, already laden down with shopping bags, munching on a pretzel. She had been disappointed when Luke told her he had to work that day, but soon realized it was better this way. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a day all to herself to go wherever she wanted, buy whatever she wanted, and eat whatever she wanted. So far she had spent the morning browsing places like Sephora and Victoria's Secret, stores no one else would ever want to accompany her to (even Rory found it creepy to help her pick out underwear). Besides, she had to buy a wedding dress (she needed something to wear over her Victoria's Secret purchase), and she couldn't exactly bring Luke with her on that errand anyway. 

By mid afternoon, Lorelai found she was losing her spirit. She had already been through several hot dogs, two frozen coffee concoctions, three slices of pizza and a pretzel, and had browsed through every famous New York department store, wedding gown boutique and even the discount stores. She had bought a new winter coat (half off!), several scarves (a dollar apiece at H & M), cute sandals to wear on her honeymoon (even though she had yet to convince Luke to go on a honeymoon with her), and stocked up on bagels at Dean & Deluca, but no wedding dress yet. Her feet hurting and her spirit crushed, she trudged down 5th Avenue, stopping to look in the windows of a huge, corporate bookstore that Rory would hate. Something in the window caught her eye, and she had to have it. It was one of those instructional books with a stupid title like "Jewish Weddings for Dummies," or something equally cheesy, but she didn't much care. What struck her was that there was a picture on the cover of a chuppah. Not just any chuppah, though. Her chuppah. She swore it looked exactly like the one sitting on her front yard.

She went inside, marveled at the size of the place, and went in search of the book, which she found on a display table near the door. On her way to the register, she passed another section of the bookstore, one she would never even think about looking at unless it was to mock it mercilessly, but this time, it caught her eye. She browsed the shelves, not quite sure what even made her stop in that section, until she found it. The perfect wedding present for Luke, she thought, as she picked it up and started flipping through it. The fact that it was going to annoy him and probably send him off on a rant… well, that just made it more fun.

* * *

Late in the afternoon, Rory trudged back home after a day of fruitless job searching. She walked into the pool house, in desperate need for some coffee. However, when she looked in the cupboard she didn't find any. Hoping that Luke had snuck some into her freezer when he was there, she looked there too, but didn't find any. She was dying for a Luke's fix right about now. Well, she thought, she could either suck it up and drive to Stars Hollow, or she could go to the supermarket and drink substandard supermarket coffee. Determined not to lose her resolve, she got back in the car and headed towards home. She wasn't entirely sure what she would find there, and she had no idea where Lorelai was hanging out these days. She really just wanted to get coffee from Luke, but decided that if she ran into her mother there, she would just have to deal with that too. 

When she got there, Luke's was strangely empty for a weekday, pre dinner. Rory was thankful for this, and hoped not too many people would notice her car outside as she walked in. Luke was where he always was, behind the counter, looking like he was trying to fix some appliance or other. Rory sat down at the counter and watched him, until he finally looked up and noticed her.

"Rory! Don't do that, you'll scare a person to death!"

"Sorry."

"You… uh… your mom's not here."

"I can see that."

"She went to New York for the day." Luke heard Rory breathe an audible sigh of relief. "Does she know you're—"

"—no. And I'd like to keep it that way, please."

"So you guys are still –"

"—yes, we're still."

Luke just nodded, and turned around to pour Rory a mug of coffee. Her eyes lit up the second he put it down in front of her.

"Thanks," she said, "you have no idea how much I miss this."

"Can I get you something else?"

"A cheeseburger would be great."

Luke went into the kitchen to make Rory's burger, wondering what the hell she was doing there. She certainly had not driven all the way to Stars Hollow just to get a cup of coffee, he surmised, but he didn't know what to do with her. Should he try to talk to her? Should he call Lorelai and make her come take Rory home? Should he just let her hang out there until she got bored and left? He didn't have any answers, so he did what he did best – fed her.

Rory ate her burger in silence, though she seemed to be enjoying it. Luke went back to fixing the toaster, watching her out of the corner of his eye. She seemed to want to say something, but thought the better of it. Finally, as she was finishing off her burger, she said, "Hey Luke… could we… do you think… never mind."

"What was that?" Luke had to laugh a little at her sudden loss for words. He didn't think he'd ever seen a Gilmore have a such hard time forming a sentence.

"Well I," started Rory, and then stopped again.

Luke tried to figure out what she was doing, but frankly he was kind of losing his patience with her. If she wanted to talk to him, why couldn't she just say it already?

"For godsakes, Rory, what is it?"

"Can we talk?" she said, a bit shyly, as if she were afraid of his response.

"Of course. Let's go upstairs. Bring the coffee."

Rory followed Luke up to his apartment, and it occurred to her that the last time she'd been there was when Jess was there. Wow, that felt like a really long time ago, she thought. She sat down at the kitchen table, and surveyed the room. It looked a lot … more sparse than before. Upon second glance, she realized it was not just because Jess had taken all of his crap, but half of Luke's stuff seemed to be missing too.

"Where's all your stuff?" she inquired, even though she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

"Oh…uh… I'm just doing some spring cleaning, you know, getting rid of anything made before 1985, that sort of thing."

Uh huh, thought Rory, sure you are. She was pretty sure she knew the real answer, but if Lorelai wasn't going to tell her, than she sure as hell did not need to hear it from Luke either. She looked down into her coffee, knowing that Luke knew she wasn't buying it, but pretending to anyway. She surveyed the room again, and noticed all of Luke's trophies, sporting equipment, and various pictures on the walls. Luke sure had an interesting life, she thought, and then realized that she knew nothing about it. She had always just assumed that he had no desire to talk to her, or anyone for that matter, about it. She never thought that all she had to do was ask.

"Luke, where did you go to college?" she asked.

"I didn't."

"Why not?"

"Well, my dad was sick, and my sister was pregnant, so –"

"—what about your mom?"

"She died was I was seven."

"I'm sorry, Luke. I didn't know."

Luke just nodded, sitting down across from her. "Anyway, I stayed here to help out with the store and taking care of Liz. I was never any good at that school stuff anyway – not like you."

Rory regarded him for a second. "I'm not that good at it," she replied.

Luke could not believe he had just heard Rory say that, but decided to continue his story anyway. "I'm not sure I would have gotten into college anyway. I spent most of high school playing sports and making out with Carrie under the bleachers."

This got Rory's attention. "Carrie? Crazy Carrie? The woman with the boobs?"

"Yep, unfortunately."

This sent Rory into hysterics, laughing so hard she was almost crying. "Oh my god," she yelped, "Mom hates that woman!" She continued cracking up.

"Yes, I know. You tell her about this and I kill you."

Rory laughed harder, which made Luke smile. What was with these Gilmore women, he thought. He was the grumpiest person on earth, yet he could so easily make these girls smile.

Rory finally regained her composure, and stared down into her empty coffee cup again. She switched back into serious mode again and said, "Luke, do you think I can do this?"

"Do what?"

"I don't know. Life. Journalism. Yale."

"Rory, don't be ridiculous. Of course you can. You can do anything you want," he said, and then added, "you got that from your mother."

Rory looked up at him, and saw the pride in his eyes that appeared whenever he talked about Lorelai. It took her a second to realize that he was looking at her with the same pride.

"Thanks Luke," she said softly, and got up to leave. On her way out though, she noticed a familiar blue T shirt hanging in his closet. "Hey!" she exclaimed, "that's my shirt!"

Luke remembered Lorelai wearing that shirt not too long ago… actually he remembered Lorelai taking off that shirt not too long ago – but Rory didn't need to know that. "So take it," he said, sad to see it go.

"She'll notice it's missing."

"I'll tell her I lost it. If you want it back, take it."

"Thanks."

Rory took the shirt off the hanger and folded it over her arm. She gave Luke a timid hug, and was out the door. Luke followed her downstairs and watched her leave.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lorelai sat at an outdoor café, drinking something that she didn't remember the name of, but she knew it had three shots of espresso in it, and watching the city go by. She was starting to get discouraged. A whole day in New York, and she still hadn't found a wedding dress. She had given up on midtown and made her way down to the Village, hoping to find something in one of the funkier shops, but still no luck. She surveyed her purchases one last time, making sure she hadn't lost anything along the way. She had managed to buy inordinate amounts of clothing for herself, a wedding present for Luke, and – she almost forgot – a CD for Rory. Much to her own dismay, she had ventured into the music section of the bookstore she had been shopping in, attracted by a sign that said, 'Broadway Soundtracks – 50 off.' 

She wasn't sure how appreciative Rory would be of her little gift – they had never been the kind of family who sent each other greeting cards, trinkets, or even CDs with supposedly relevant lyrics. In fact, they made fun of families who did that. But in light of the Lorelais' recent inability to hold a conversation, she thought it was worth a shot. She was completely out of ideas for how else to reach her daughter, and she had to do something to break the ice before her wedding. She hadn't heard from her since the short e-mails they had exchanged, and so far, the chances of the two getting to really talk before the wedding were not looking good. At the very least, she thought, Rory could have one more thing to sell on ebay if she ever got kicked out of the Gilmores' house and went broke.

Looking at her watch, Lorelai realized that if she wanted to make it home before the train started getting overrun with commuters, she had to hurry up. She gathered her belongings, left a generous tip, and started heading towards the subway. She had no idea what she was going to do about a wedding dress – it wasn't like she was going to find one in Stars Hollow, and she didn't want to venture into Hartford for fear of her mother finding out. Just as she was about to descend the stairs into the subway, she spotted a vintage shop across the street, with cute bags and shoes in the windows. It didn't look like they had anything in the way of dresses, but she figured it couldn't hurt to look.

Lorelai went into the small shop, and realized that it was a thrift shop dedicated to selling clothes, shoes, and bags that had once been owned by celebrities. Unfortunately, most of the stuff was a complete monstrosity, and she could see why even movie stars wouldn't want to have this stuff in their closets anymore. She finally spotted the only thing resembling a dress in the back corner. It was a white lace disaster, and she thought it looked like it belonged in a museum entitled, 'Items from 1982 that we hope we never have to look at again.' However, something about it attracted her. There was something about the cut, or the length, or the fabric that made her think that with the right purchase from a fabric store and a sewing machine, she could do something amazing with this dress.

She brought it up to the register, and as she paid for the dress, the clerk told her, "Thank you for buying this. We've been trying to get rid of this forever."

"I can't possibly imagine why," said Lorelai, with her usual hint of sarcasm.

The clerk didn't look too pleased with her joke, but added, "Madonna wore this dress."

This sparked Lorelai's curiosity. "I hope it wasn't to her wedding to Sean Penn, cause well, that didn't end well."

The clerk clearly did not appreciate Lorelai's sarcasm, but told her anyway, "I think she wore it on tour. Maybe for a performance of 'Like a Virgin.' I'm really not sure…. Look, do you want the dress or not?"

"Yes, yes, I want the dress. Calm down," she told the clerk, and giggled when she thought about where it came from. The thought delighted her immensely. She couldn't wait to tell Rory that she was wearing Madonna's "Like a Virgin" costume as a wedding dress. That was, if they ever spoke again.

Lorelai glanced at her watch again, and realized that now she really had to hurry up. She quickly paid for the dress and rushed off and into the subway, desperately trying not to lose any of the shopping bags she was schlepping.

* * *

Later that night, Lorelai walked into Luke's apartment as he was packing more stuff, and dropped her bags on the floor. He was carefully arranging some trophies in a box when she snuck up behind him and squeezed his shoulders, startling him. Luke turned around, about to rant to her about how much he hated it when people did that, but never got around to it, because she flashed that smile of hers. Luke hated that she could get away with stuff that easily, all because of that smile. 

"You know, you can't just..." he started, but Lorelai stopped him with a kiss.

"Hi," she said when they finally pulled away, "good evening to you too."

Luke glared at her and decided that the safest thing to do was go back to packing.

"God, I'm wiped," Lorelai complained, as she took off her tight blouse and started rummaging through his closet. "Hey, where's my shirt?"

"What shirt?"

Lorelai stood in the doorway to the closet in just her bra and jeans, with her hands on her hips. "The T shirt I left here the other day. It's blue… I think it says 'porn star' or 'sexy mama' or something like that on it?"

Luke glanced over at her in amusement. "I haven't seen it."

"Well gimme a T shirt to wear, then," she said, as she started rummaging through his drawers.

"I think you look fine like that."

"Very funny," she said, as she pulled a 'Yankees' T shirt out of his drawer and put it on. "Oh, man," she muttered, "Rory's so going to kill me. That was her shirt."

Luke wasn't sure if he was meant to hear that last part, but thought it better not to respond anyway.

Lorelai helped herself to a beer from his fridge, and lounged on his couch. She looked into the shopping bags she had brought from the city, and pulled out the book she was looking for. She put on her glasses and began to read, looking very studious and official. Luke glanced over at her and couldn't help but smile. She caught his glance, and cocked an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Nothing. You're adorable."

Lorelai's stomach was doing that fluttering thing again, and she hid her face in the book to hide the 12 year old giggle that she couldn't help from happening. Luke shook his head at her and went back to work.

"What are you reading anyway?" he asked.

"I think we should have a Jewish wedding," said Lorelai, as if he was supposed to know what she was talking about.

"What does that entail?" said Luke, from somewhere in the back of his closet.

"It entails us getting married under a chuppah, which we were already doing anyway, walking down the aisle to music from _Fiddler on the Roof_, which is kind of appropriate when you think about it, and you breaking a wine glass with your foot. Then we eat lox and gefilte fish," Lorelai explained, adding her own interpretation to what she was reading.

"Why would I break a glass with my foot?"

"It says something in here about the destruction of some old famous temple, but it just sounds fun."

"It sounds painful."

"You get to wear shoes, genius."

"Oh, well then. You've convinced me."

"Oh come on, Luke."

"Again, a very convincing argument. But let me get this straight. First, you want Kirk to officiate –"

"—aww, let him. Think about it this way – either he officiates, or he has to be your best man. Which means he gets to throw you a bachelor party."

Luke glared at Lorelai for a second, and then realized she was right. The thought of Kirk trying to throw any kind of party was nauseating, never mind the idea of a bachelor party which he didn't want in the first place.

"Fine. But you want to have a ceremony based on a religion that neither one of us has ever practiced?"

"Hey, you started it with the whole chuppah thing."

"If I remember correctly, I never said anything about that chuppah being for you and me. In fact, I think it's kind of ugly."

"Oh, please. You're the one who spent hours carving little goats onto it."

Luke had no response. As usual, he was losing at the 'pretend he wasn't in love with Lorelai for a lot of years' game, and was kind of losing his patience with it anyway. "Fine. But I am not participating in any kind of group activity which involves singing in another language, dancing, or being publicly drunk in any way."

"Well, you are the town grump. We wouldn't want to ruin your reputation."

Lorelai watched Luke painstakingly arrange odds and ends into boxes for a few minutes, wondering what the hell he was doing and why it was taking him so long to do it. Finally she slammed the book closed and popped up off the couch. "Here," she said, "let me help you."

She walked over to his closet, grabbing a big box on the way, grabbed all the hanging shirts and unceremoniously dumped them in the box. "Closet's done!" she cried gleefully.

"Lorelai!" cried Luke, "what are you doing? You can't just do that. I had a system."

"Ok, Monica, what do you need a system for? You're moving down the street. You're going to unpack this in, like, five minutes anyway."

Luke just shook his head and continued what he was doing. They continued packing in silence for a little while, Lorelai haphazardly throwing things in boxes, Luke organizing them two seconds later. Every once in a while, they would look up at each other and smile, or Lorelai would walk past Luke and pinch his butt, or Luke would find something else that reminded him of her. Finally, while Lorelai was looking through some of his things, she said, "Hey Luke."

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you're ok with this?"

"With what?"

"Leaving this apartment. Packing up all your dad's stuff."

"Are you crazy? This place is the size of a postage stamp. I have absolutely no attachment to it as a home."

Lorelai looked up at him, trying to decide whether to believe him or not. Luke caught on to this, and added, "I still own the building. It's not like someone else is going to live here. I'll use it as an office, the way it was intended to be."

He sounded a little too cheerful for Lorelai's taste, and she looked at him skeptically. "And that's ok with you?"

Luke walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking her straight in the eyes. "It's time," he said. Lorelai just nodded, and they continued packing, occasionally looking up and sharing a smile.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: This is it. The last chapter... I hope you brought some crackers! Thanks for reading

Thanks to presssecretary for the beta.

The next week flew by rather uneventfully for Lorelai, who busied herself with wedding plans and making dresses and making sure the inn was still running smoothly. Planning a wedding in less than two weeks turned out to surprisingly easy. Since Lorelai owned the Dragonfly, she could do whatever she wanted with the space, and decided to do most of the decorations herself. Babette and Patty had volunteered to help with flowers, tablecloths and ballerinas. (Lorelai wasn't sure about the ballerinas part, but she figured it might be worth the free entertainment). Sookie had grown restless in her post-pregnancy, crying-baby phase, so she was eager to do the food (leaving a none too pleased Jackson with most of the baby sitting duties), and Lane's band wasn't leaving for their tour for another two weeks, so she eagerly accepted the DJ-ing gig. Kirk was… well, Kirk. Lorelai figured that whatever he came up with would at least be entertaining, and decided to leave it at that. Somehow, Luke had even roped Taylor into putting an announcement on the Stars Hollow web page so they wouldn't have to send out invitations. Since everyone they knew pretty much lived in Stars Hollow, that worked out perfectly.

Luke wasn't too happy with seeing Lorelai slip back into her frenzied work mode, but he figured she would calm down after the wedding, and then he could have her to himself as much as he wanted. In her first break in a couple of days, Lorelai sat in her office marveling at how much she had accomplished in just a week. She thrived on this kind of stress – she enjoyed jobs where she ran around all day, constantly having to deal with people and solve problems. She detested sitting in an office, and thought about this as she looked around her own office and reflected on how little she actually used it. She stared at the framed photo of herself, Rory and Luke that Sookie had taken at Rory's graduation, and sighed. She'd looked at that picture a thousand times, but was only now noticing Luke's presence in it. They sure did look like a nice family, she thought, and then wondered when exactly she had started thinking of Luke as part of the family. She suspected it was long before they had even started dating.

* * *

Meanwhile, Luke was busy walking around a mall in Hartford, wondering how he had gotten suckered into walking around the mall in Hartford. Lorelai had said something about making sure her dress was properly pinned, tucked and fluffed (whatever that meant), and something about a pair of shoes that would make Carrie Bradshaw jealous, and the next thing he knew, he was agreeing to pick up said shoes. Of course, once Lorelai roped him into getting the shoes, she promptly made a list of a whole bunch of other crap she needed picked up, and suddenly, Luke was spending all day at the hateful mall hanging out with twelve year old girls with their butt cracks showing. 'How did their parents let them out of the house like that,' he wondered, as he reluctantly walked up to the counter in the women's shoes section of a fancy department store.

He stood in front of the counter, watching tons of salespeople mill around the floor, but to his amazement, none of them were willing to stop and help him. Finally, someone appeared on the other side of the counter, and Luke began to try to explain what he was looking for. The weird looks he was getting from the salesgirl prompted him to add, "they're for my…" but he never got to finish, because right at that moment, he spotted Rory, and she was coming towards him. Luke wondered what Rory was doing at the mall in the middle of the day – he thought she should be looking for a job, or working at said job, or something involving the word 'job,' but he knew better than to try to lecture her.

"Luke," she said, not hiding the surprise in her voice.

"Rory. Hi."

"What are you doing here?" she wondered.

"Oh… just… you know… shopping," said Luke. He wasn't a very good liar, nor was he entirely comfortable with lying to Rory, but this was Lorelai's thing to resolve.

"At the mall? In the women's shoe department?"

Luke had no idea how to respond to this, so he decided to change the subject. "And what are you doing here in the middle of the day?"

"Job searching," said Rory, a bit sheepish.

"At the mall? In the women's shoe department?" echoed Luke.

"Yeah, well…" said Rory.

Right at that moment, the salesgirl came back with a pair of white Jimmy Choo sandals and handed them to Luke. Rory raised an eyebrow at this, but eyed the shoes with some interest. She kind of wanted them, but thought they were kind of tacky in white. In fact, she was pretty sure Lorelai hated the concept of white shoes altogether, but decided to refrain from embarrassing Luke more by asking him about it.

Both felt like they had been caught doing something they shouldn't, and were out of things to say. They regarded each other for a moment. Rory shrugged.

"I have to go," she said softly.

"Rory, wait," said Luke, "you… uh… wanna grab lunch or something?"

'This is weird,' thought Rory. She'd known Luke since she was a kid, and never in that time had they 'grabbed lunch.' She guessed there was a first time for everything, though, and indulged him.

"Sure. Food court?"

Luke cringed at the idea of eating in a food court, which amused Rory to no end.

"Are you sure you don't want to eat at a normal restaurant? My treat," said Luke, hoping to entice her into eating something normal, if not healthy.

Rory laughed at this. "Come on. You can get sushi for a dollar. It'll be fun."

Luke didn't know how to argue with that, and reluctantly followed her to the food court.

Fifteen minutes later, they were seated in uncomfortable plastic chairs eating unidentifiable junk food. Amazingly enough, Luke had found something resembling a salad, and Rory was having her usual – a cheeseburger with a side of sushi, followed by an ice cream sundae. Luke did his best not to comment on the food, even though looking at Rory's side of the table gave him an instant stomachache. They ate in silence for a while, not knowing where to begin.

"So," Luke began, "you want to work… here?"

"Not particularly," said Rory, "but it turns out that only two years of college makes you qualified for… nothing."

Luke just nodded.

"You talk to your mom lately?" he asked, deciding to change the topic altogether, though he wasn't sure that Lorelai was a safe topic either.

"No," said Rory, "have you?"

"What?"

"I don't know! You're shopping at the mall, which you hate, far away from Stars Hollow, in Hartford, which you also hate, and you're buying shoes which I'm pretty sure Mom will hate. What's going on?"

Crap, thought Luke. He was going to have to make something up, before Rory thought he was cheating on Lorelai or something. He hated lying to her, and the more he had to do it, the more irritated he was getting with Lorelai. Why couldn't she just talk to Rory already? He had no problem watching out for her, making sure she was fed and taken care of, and giving her some much needed encouragement, but he hated lying to her.

"Oh, you know… I had a day off, and I just thought I would surprise her. You don't think she's going to like these shoes?"

Rory looked at him skeptically and said outright, "No. I don't." Something weird was going on, but obviously Luke was not going to divulge any more information. Rory pushed the food around on her plate, frustrated and annoyed. Either Luke was cheating on Lorelai, she surmised, or – wait a minute. Lorelai was buying white shoes? They couldn't be, could they? She would have known about it already, right? Someone would have told her… although she and Lorelai were not speaking, Luke's loyalty to Lorelai probably prevented him from telling her, and she hadn't really been in touch with anyone else in Stars Hollow since…

Rory didn't get a chance to finish the thought, because she felt Luke's eyes on her.

"Something wrong, Rory?" he asked.

"No, I guess not," she mumbled, and continued staring at her plate. After another awkward silence, she started again. "It's just… I miss her. I'm 20 years old, I'm supposed to be on my own, and I miss my mommy. There, I said it."

Luke sighed. This conversation certainly wasn't helping Lorelai's cause. "I know you do."

Rory glanced up at him with a slight smile.

"You guys will work it out," he added.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know."

"You don't know everything," Rory grumbled into her burger.

Luke marveled at how alike she and Lorelai were – hadn't he had the same conversation with Lorelai not too long ago? Luke glanced at his watch, realizing he still had a lot of crap to pick up, and that if he wanted to get back to Stars Hollow before rush hour, he had to get moving.

"Well, I have to get going," he said, "I have to return these shoes, apparently."

Rory nodded, and they got up to clear their trays. "Hey Rory," said Luke, before she got a chance to get away, "You'll be ok. I promise."

She nodded again and watched him leave, wishing once again that she could attach herself to his leg like she used to do to her mom when she was two, and beg him to take her home with him.

* * *

Rory trudged back home (is that what she was calling it now?), feeling not-so-inspired anymore. She had left that morning determined to just find any job, anything to tide her over until she could figure out what she was going to do. However, she had run into Luke at the mall before she could even fill out any applications, and now she was just exhausted from thinking about it. She went into her room and put on her bathing suit, deciding that the only good thing about living in the pool house was, well, the pool.

However, on her way outside, she was thwarted by a small package that had apparently arrived for her. She debated leaving it there and dealing with it later, but she noticed Lorelai's handwriting on the outside, so she took it inside and opened it. Inside the cardboard FedEx box was a small gift wrapped package, with a note on the wrapping paper.

_Rory,_

_Saw this and I thought of you. Remember how we laughed our asses off at the naked puppets? I think that was when Luke decided to never go out in public with the two of us ever again. Although I still think that whoever decided to put Muppets on Broadway is either a genius, or should be shot. I can't decide._

_Call me._

_Love,_

_Mom_

Rory rolled her eyes, but ripped off the wrapping paper anyway. 'Show tunes?' she thought, 'my mother is sending me show tunes? She must really be desperate.' The thought of Lorelai shopping in the Broadway section made Rory giggle for some reason, and she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. She figured that her life had gotten so pathetic that she really had nothing better to do than sit around and listen to show tunes anyway. She put the CD in the state of the art, surround sound contraption also supplied by Emily, and laid down on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

_What do you do with a B.A. in English?... I can't pay the bills yet, cause I have no skills yet…_

The squeaky Muppets sang to her, making Rory wonder why Lorelai couldn't have just bought her a Clash CD or something. Or better yet, why she couldn't just suck it up and call her already. But she knew her mother, and she knew herself, and the Gilmore girls were nothing if not stubborn, petty, and a whole host of other not so nice adjectives. Rory reflected on this as the next few songs played, wondering how her relationship with Lorelai had gotten so out of control that she was now sitting in her grandparents' pool house, wearing Lorelai's bathing suit, staring at the ceiling and listening to show tunes provided by her mother. The whole idea was depressing, she thought, and a little bit infuriating.

_Purpose… it's that little flame that lights a fire under your ass…. I don't know how I know, but I'm gonna find my purpose._

'Oh, geez,' thought Rory. She hated to admit it, but the song actually spoke to her. As she listened to the crazy puppets sing about finding their purpose in life, she imagined the evil look on Lorelai's face when she had picked out this CD. As the song played on, she was smiling in spite of herself, if for no other reason than planning how much she was going to make fun of her mother for this.

The CD continued to play, and by the time she got to "The Internet is for Porn," she was howling with laughter at the memory of the masturbating Muppets. She had to give Lorelai props for her selection – at the very least, it had made her smile. And now she had one more thing to sell on ebay when she inevitably went broke and had to sell all her belongings like Gary Coleman, she thought.

Her resolve crumbling, Rory sat down at her computer and typed an e-mail to Lorelai.

_Ok, Mom, I get it. Meet me for lunch tomorrow?_

She hit send, and stared at it for a little while, her heartbeat quickening. She still wasn't sure how to act around her mother, or what she was going to say to her. She wanted nothing more than to just forget about this whole problem and go home, but she still didn't know what she was going to do about the rest of her life, and she knew Lorelai would not be too pleased with that answer. She had always been the girl with a plan, detailing every second of her life until the day she died. Lorelai had gotten used to that, and now couldn't deal with seeing her daughter so off track. In fact, Rory herself had gotten used to that, and was having trouble figuring out how to take things day by day.

'Whatever,' thought Rory. Maybe, at the very least, they could be friends again. Maybe she could have her best friend back, and then they could go back to making fun of people who send CD's with relevant lyrics as gifts.

Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by the flashing on her computer telling her to read her e-mail.

_You got it, kid._

Rory looked at the message, and closed her computer, satisfied with the outcome. She turned off the stereo and went outside to enjoy the last of the sun's rays for the day.

* * *

The next morning, Lorelai was attempting to work, but was having trouble concentrating on anything at all. Between the argument she had had with Luke the night before, and her upcoming lunch with Rory, she felt her world shifting once again, and it made her insides all knotty. It had been almost a week since she'd seen her daughter, and she still had no idea what she was going to say to her. Somehow, she had to convince her to go back to school, and make her understand that she loved her and just wanted what's best for her. Then there was the issue of the wedding – she still hadn't told Rory about it, but she desperately wanted her to be there.

Upon looking at her watch, she realized she needed to leave if she wanted to be semi on time to take Rory out to lunch. She left Michel in charge and ran out the door, cursing herself for wanting to meet Rory in Hartford. What if she ran into her parents, which she was bound to do since it was their house? She really had no desire to see them, talk to them, or really have anything to do with them right now. As she drove, she tried to figure out why Luke was being so annoying about her parents. He hated them too, why would he possibly want them to be there? And then it dawned on her that he was probably wishing his own parents could be there, and she felt really stupid. She had been so caught up in being angry with her own parents, that she had failed to realize how Luke must be feeling. She wondered how she could have possibly been so insensitive, and why Luke even put up with her at all.

However, she had to hit the pause button on the internal rant, because she realized she'd been sitting in her parents' driveway for a few minutes now. Luckily, the only car she saw there was Rory's Prius, so she figured she was safe from her parents, at least for the time it would take her to walk to the pool house. Grabbing her purse from the front seat, she went to check up on her daughter.

Rory answered the door immediately, and swept Lorelai up into a hug, not wanting to let go.

"Hey kid," said Lorelai, smiling into Rory's hair.

Rory pulled away abruptly, almost as if she realized what she was doing, and then thought better of it. Lorelai looked at her curiously when she realized what she was wearing. Unless Rory had two very similar T shirts, Lorelai could swear she was wearing the shirt she had left at Luke's place the other day. In fact, she was almost positive it was that shirt – she remembered wearing it… actually she remembered taking it off, to be more accurate. 'That's weird,' thought Lorelai, and then decided to finish figuring it out later so she could have a conversation with her daughter.

"Lemme just grab my purse, and we can go," said Rory, sounding very official.

Lorelai nodded, and took in her surroundings while Rory searched through her bedroom for her purse. She certainly had figured out a way to make the pool house homey, thought Lorelai, as she wandered over to Rory's desk. It was covered in papers, empty coffee mugs, and empty boxes of cookies, but something caught Lorelai's eye. She lifted up one of the empty coffee mugs, and read what was underneath it.

"Hey, what's this?" she shouted.

Rory appeared through the doorway, asking, "What's what?"

"The newspaper –"

"—oh that's really old, I forgot to throw it out. You can throw it out if you want."

"No, I mean this ad. For this internship? Are you gonna apply?"

"I don't think so. Let's go," said Rory, desperately wanting to change the subject.

Lorelai reluctantly followed Rory out the door, knowing full well that she wasn't done with that topic.

Half an hour later, the Lorelais were seated on an outdoor patio of a restaurant. They had already ordered coffee as well as food, talked about the weather, and discussed the many fine attributes of Entenmann's cookies. They were running out of safe topics, and neither knew what to say next. Lorelai decided to just get it over with already, because after all, she had a wedding to plan and an inn to run, and she didn't have all day to sit there.

"So," she said. What was with her lately? She gets into a fight with someone and her only defense mechanism is to say, 'so?' She made a mental note to go home and read a thesaurus or something.

"So…" Rory replied. Lorelai was glad to see that she suffered from the same disease.

Finally, Lorelai pulled an envelope out of her purse and gave it to Rory. "This came in the mail for you," she said, and then, "it's your class registration and housing forms for the fall."

"Throw it out," said Rory sullenly.

Lorelai had a feeling Rory was going to say that, so she tried again. "Now see, I would, but just listen to me for a second. I took the liberty of opening it for you, and it says in here that you don't have to send it in until June 10. That's not for another week or so. So just take it, and think about it, ok?"

Rory glared at her, knowing that if she didn't just take the goddamn envelope right now, she would probably get smacked in the head with it. She yanked it out of Lorelai's hand and shoved it in her purse without saying anything.

"You signed up for some interesting classes. I can't wait to hear about them," said Lorelai as she picked up her coffee mug and took a sip. Rory watched her pick up her coffee, and – 'a ha!' thought Rory, 'I knew it!'

Out of nowhere, Rory exclaimed, "MOM!" causing Lorelai to nearly choke on her coffee.

"My god, Rory, what? Is there a gigantic bear behind me waiting to attack or something?"

"WHAT IS THAT ROCK ON YOUR FINGER?" Rory shouted.

'Oh crap,' thought Lorelai. Had she really gotten this far into the conversation without mentioning the wedding? Oops.

Just then, the waiter appeared with their food, and set it down in front of them, giving them a stern look that said 'be quiet.' They looked at each other in amusement, both thinking of how much that guy reminded them of Luke, with his "rules" and whatnot.

Not wanting to annoy the waiter more, Rory leaned over her plate and whispered, "Mom, do you have something to tell me?"

"LukeandIaregettingmarried," Lorelai mumbled.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" asked Rory, a little bit smug, a little bit amused, and a little bit offended that Lorelai hadn't told her sooner.

Lorelai finally looked up at her and decided now was as good a time as any to get it out in the open. "Luke and I are getting married," she said, much slower, "next week. And I'd really like you to be there."

Rory sat completely still, her mouth hanging open, for a few seconds. Finally, she got up, walked around to the other side of the table, and tackled Lorelai, almost knocking her chair over.

"Careful," said Lorelai, "I'm not sure how they feel about public hugging in this

establishment."

"Of course I'll be there," said Rory, as she tried to regain her composure and sat back down.

Right then, Lorelai heard her phone ring from inside her purse. She knew immediately who it was, and decided to let it ring.

"You gonna answer that?" wondered Rory.

"Nope," said Lorelai.

"Why not?"

"Because I know it's Luke."

"And?"

Lorelai sighed. "We're in a fight."

"Why?"

"Luke, of all people, wants to invite Richard and Emily to the wedding, and I refused. He said things, I threw things, and now we're in a fight."

"Huh," said Rory.

"Huh? That's all you got?"

"Yep."

"Some help you are," grumbled Lorelai.

Rory just shrugged and continued eating her lunch.

"Hey, where are the Gilmores this fine day anyway?"

"Oh," said Rory, with a hint of a smile, "they went to the cape. They won't be back for another two weeks."

"Huh," said Lorelai, "well isn't that convenient."

The girls spent the next hour gushing about wedding plans, complaining about summer movies, and laughing over the look that was sure to be on Emily's face when she found out that her daughter had gotten married without her knowledge.

As much as Lorelai had missed having Rory as a friend, she knew she still had some 'mom' things to deal with. She was not going to let Rory get away with being a slacker all summer, and she certainly was not going to let her get away with not going back to school. She had promised her that she wasn't going to give up on her, and she intended to keep that promise.

When the waiter came by with their desserts, Lorelai half expected him to tell her how unhealthy they were. When he didn't, she sighed wistfully, wishing she hadn't let her argument with Luke get so out of control. Rory caught sight of the look on Lorelai's face, and said, "You thinking about Luke?"

"How do you do that?" wondered Lorelai.

"I'm your daughter. It's a gift."

Lorelai smiled appreciatively at Rory, though she didn't really feel like talking about Luke anymore.

"So," she said, attempting to change the subject, "you gonna apply for that internship?"

"I'd really rather not talk about it."

"I think you should apply."

"Which part of I'd rather not talk about it did you not get?" said Rory, growing increasingly agitated.

"It sounds perfect for you," said Lorelai, not giving up.

Rory knew better than to try to stop Lorelai from saying what she wanted to say, so she reluctantly gave in.

"I can't apply for it now anyway, because I spilled coffee all over the e-mail address," she grumbled.

"So call them," said Lorelai.

Rory had no response.

"Oh that's right," Lorelai continued, "I forgot."

"You forgot about what?"

"Your thing about calling people. Your fear that if you call someone you don't know, the phone will spontaneously combust and explode in your ear, which will somehow send shockwaves into your eyes, thus rendering you blind and never able to read again."

"I made that up when I was five," said Rory.

"So call them," Lorelai said again.

"I don't have the phone number," said Rory.

"Rory, stop making excuses and pick up the phone. You know there are about a hundred ways you could get that phone number."

"I don't want to apply anyway, ok? So drop it," Rory said, clearly angry now.

"Oh come on. It sounds like the perfect job for you – you get to follow celebrities around, read the tabloids and make fun of them – you love that sort of thing."

"I said, drop it," exclaimed Rory, and got up to leave.

Lorelai grabbed her wrist in an attempt to stop her, and said, "Rory, honey, this is me not giving up on you."

"Yeah. Fine. Whatever," griped Rory, and stormed off, leaving Lorelai with the check and a bit of a headache as well.

* * *

As she made her way home, Lorelai's headache escalated. Why did she always manage to fight with everyone she loved in the same week, she wondered. It certainly didn't help with her insomnia, and her digestive system was not agreeing with her too well either. Her thoughts slipped back to Luke, making her wonder how they were possibly going to resolve this one. She knew she had been incredibly ignorant in not recognizing his attachment to his parents, but her situation was different. Maybe it was petty, but she did not want Emily and Richard at her wedding. She wanted them to feel just as betrayed by her as she did by them, which wasn't exactly fair, and certainly was not the way one should treat family members, but there it was. She wasn't sure how she was going to convince Luke to agree with that, though.

Lorelai wasn't used to having someone be so involved in her life and her family, and it scared her. She was trying really hard to let him help her when help was needed, and to let him be a part of her life. However, this was one thing she was not willing to compromise on. Her relationship with her parents was hers to deal with – after all, the last time Luke had tried to get involved in that one, it had ended in disaster. How could he not remember that? Then again, how could she not remember that his parents could not be there, and he actually wanted them there? Lorelai pulled up in front of Luke's, and slammed her car door in frustration.

* * *

Meanwhile, Luke was busy trying not to burn Kirk's burger and Zach's fries. As he carried the plates over to their respective tables, he spotted Lorelai getting out of her car. She looked mad. He had hoped that after their argument the night before, she would come to her senses and agree with him. He knew he should know better by now, but he really didn't have the energy to fight with her right now. The diner had been busier than ever the last few days, and he was having trouble just staying awake during the day. However, he wasn't going to give in that easily. How could she not want her parents at her wedding? Fine, it was the Gilmores they were talking about, but they were her _parents_. They needed to be there.

Luke's thoughts were interrupted when Lorelai walked in to the diner and silently sat down at the counter. Luke put a cup of coffee in front of her, and just leaned on the counter, looking at her expectantly.

"What?" she said.

Luke wasn't sure where to start. "Where were you earlier?"

Lorelai glared at him. "I was out."

"Out where?"

"Oh, so now you need to know where I am every second of the day?" Lorelai retorted.

"Why won't you tell me where you were?"

"I don't feel like it," she said, like a petulant child.

This elicited an "Oh, that's mature," from Luke.

Lorelai just glowered at him, hoping that if she stared at him long enough, he would go away. It didn't work.

She didn't know what was wrong with her. She felt terrible, and acting like a four year old wasn't helping. She finally decided that they might as well get it over with and hash it out.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled into her coffee, "I haven't had the best day."

"I'm kinda busy here," snapped Luke. He didn't know why he was acting this way either, but something stopped him from just giving in already.

"Oh," breathed Lorelai, who began pouting into her coffee.

Luke watched her, just getting more and more irritated. He hated that pout, and Lorelai knew that. He knew she was doing it just to annoy him. Then again, Lorelai did most things just to annoy him. Only this one actually worked.

"For godsakes, Lorelai, will you stop that?"

Lorelai looked up at him, smiling a little. "It was just an argument, Luke. You don't have to act like your dog died."

Luke considered this for a minute. He'd never had a dog, although he always kind of wanted – wait a minute. What was going on? They were supposed to be discussing something important, and now Lorelai had him thinking about dogs? How did she do that? He laughed a little in spite of himself.

"I totally got you thinking about dogs now, didn't I?" said Lorelai, with a sparkle in her eye.

Luke didn't respond, trying to hide the grin threatening to escape. Lorelai caught his eye, and they both started laughing, their resolve crumbling.

"I'm sorry," they said at the same time.

Lorelai looked up at him in panic. "We really need to stop this talking in unison thing. It's creepy."

"I know," said Luke.

"So what are we going to do about our little problem here?" said Lorelai.

"How about I come take you out later? I think I may have some solutions," said Luke, almost… was that seductive? Lorelai couldn't be sure, but it made her smile nonetheless.

"You got it, babe. I gotta go check in at the inn. Bye." Lorelai paid Luke for the coffee (which she still insisted on doing, even though Luke had no idea why she bothered), and left.

* * *

Later, Lorelai was actually able to leave the inn at a normal time, and she headed home while it was still light out. However, once she got there, she was bored. Her dress was already almost done (in a burst of inspiration, she'd stayed up one night finishing it while she watched the milk spout guy), and Sookie and Lane were taking care of the rest of the plans. She decided she couldn't wait to see Luke, and an idea sprung to mind. She ran upstairs, threw on some old jeans and an old T shirt of Rory's, dabbed on a little of that perfume Luke loved (because what fun was having a fiancé if you couldn't flirt with him a little?), and ran back out the door.

She arrived at the diner in record time, just in time for the dinner rush. She immediately started taking orders and pouring coffee, while Luke watched, semi horrified.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"You said you were busy, I thought you could use some help," said Lorelai, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. "Besides," she said, stepping closer to him and breathing in his ear, "I need to practice my diner talk." She kissed him quickly, and was off and running again, leaving a very confused, very turned on Luke in her wake.

Snapping himself out of it, Luke returned to the kitchen while Lorelai worked her magic on the rest of the diner. For the next two hours, Luke cooked, cleaned and poured coffee while Lorelai took orders and cleared tables. Every once in a while, she would look up at him and smile. But he was still too confused and surprised to return the smile. Instead, he just shook his head at her and avoided making eye contact as much as possible in order to minimize his distraction.

Finally, when the rush died down, and the only customers left were an old couple playing some kind of elaborate card game, Luke cornered Lorelai behind the counter.

"Ok, Gertie. You wanna tell me that this is all about?"

"I thought I explained it to you. You seemed busy, I wasn't, you needed help, you got it. Why is this complicated?"

"It's not. I just –"

"—besides, I figured the quicker we get all these people out of here, the sooner I get to hang out with you."

"Ah, the truth finally comes out. This was all done for selfish reasons."

"You bet it was," she said, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Luke marveled at her, knowing that this was Lorelai's way of apologizing for their fight the night before. He had pretty much already decided that being mad at her was a waste of energy, but he had to hand it to her for her effort.

* * *

Two hours later, they had managed to get out of Stars Hollow, and were seated at Luke's favorite brewery in Litchfield. They ordered their beers, along with an appetizer sampler for Lorelai and a Ceaser salad for Luke, and settled into a comfortable quiet – for the moment at least. They both knew that they had to delve into the topic at hand at some point, but were both trying to stall the inevitable.

Finally, Luke broke the silence with, "So… you said you had a bad day today."

Lorelai was hesitant to start the story, because she knew it would take a long time to tell. She was still angry with Rory, and feeling a little left out of her life, and she wasn't sure how to explain it to Luke. However, she found that once she started telling him how she felt, it was hard to stop. Not that she was surprised at her ability to talk non stop, but for a while she'd been unable to articulate what she was feeling, and now she couldn't stop. She wondered about this for a while, until she realized that at some point, Luke had actively joined the conversation, and that they were actually talking to each other. A lot. Lorelai wasn't sure when they had last done that. Actually, she wasn't sure if they had ever done that.

They sat in the darkened restaurant and talked for hours. They had a lot of things to discuss, and amazingly, by the end of the evening, most, if not all of them had been settled. Lorelai apologized profusely for the things she had said to Luke the night before, and most importantly, for disrespecting the memory of his parents. Luke agreed to stay out of Lorelai's relationship with her parents, if only to save himself the trouble of having to deal with Emily. They put the finishing touches on their wedding plans, and Lorelai begged him to take a honeymoon with her, to no avail. By the time they left, the restaurant was about to close.

* * *

The night before the wedding, Lorelai and Rory threw their own little bachelorette party. Despite their spat at the restaurant, Lorelai had decided that she wanted her daughter with her on the night before her wedding, no matter what the conditions. She had called Rory and begged her to come stay the night. Rory didn't want to admit it, but she had been thrilled at the idea and couldn't wait to spend a night in her own bed.

They ordered tons of pizza, and had a traditional Gilmore movie night. In honor of the occasion, they watched _Father of the Bride_ (the Elizabeth Taylor version, of course), _The Wedding Singer_ (in honor of Lorelai's dress), and _Runaway Bride_ (in deference to Lorelai's last attempt at a wedding, and because of the severe mocking potential of any movie containing Julia Roberts). Rory felt like she was twelve again, back when hanging out with her mom was the best thing she could think of to do, and Lorelai was just happy to have Rory back home, despite the still lingering tension. By the time they finished the last movie, they were both exhausted, and fell asleep right away.

Lorelai woke up several hours later, as usual. She couldn't believe she was still suffering from her bought with insomnia. She looked around her dark bedroom, and felt small in her big empty bed. She missed Luke. As much as she hated to admit that, she missed him. She knew it had been her idea to spend tonight apart (for tradition's sake), but now she was regretting it. She also knew that she had the rest of her life to spend in bed with him, and that two months from now she'd probably be dying for a night alone, but for now, she missed him.

She got up and pulled on her bathrobe, and made her way downstairs. The irony of the situation not lost on her, Lorelai crept into Rory's bedroom and sat down cross-legged on the end of her bed.

"Psst," she whispered at Rory, who didn't budge. Lorelai watched her for a few seconds longer and then shoved her a little. "Hey," she whispered again.

Rory finally stirred, looking confused and horrified that she was being woken up in the middle of the night.

"Hi," said Lorelai with a devilish grin.

"God, Mom, what is it?"

"I can't sleep."

"So you thought that no one else should either?" asked Rory, and then, "what time is it?"

"Late."

Suddenly, it dawned on Rory what her mother was doing, and she shot up to a sitting position and turned on the light.

"Oh no."

"What?"

"No, no, no, no. You are not doing this."

"Doing what?"

"I am not getting up, I am not packing a suitcase, and I am certainly not going anywhere with you, in a car or any other vehicle. Understand? Now, go back to bed, because I'm tired and I have to look pretty for your wedding tomorrow. Which you are attending." Rory switched the light back off and turned over, feigning sleep.

Lorelai stayed where she was, her eyes boring holes into Rory's back. Rory grunted in frustration. "Mom, what?"

"I'm not going anywhere. I just… I'm bored. I need someone to talk to."

"What do you need someone to talk to at 2 am for? Go to sleep. Maybe you can talk to yourself in your dreams or something."

"In my dreams I'm not doing a lot of talking –"

"—stop right there. I'm sorry I mentioned it."

Rory tried to go back to sleep again, but Lorelai was still staring at her.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"I'm just… I'm glad you're here. That's all."

Lorelai un-pretzeled herself to lie down next to Rory, stroking her hair like she used to when she was a baby. She remembered how that was the only thing that would stop Rory from crying.

"You know," said Lorelai, "I used to do this when you were a baby. It was the only way you would stop crying. I used to call you whiskers."

"I know. I hated that."

"You don't even remember that."

"I've heard the story enough to know that I probably hated it when you called me whiskers."

Lorelai snickered, "At least I didn't call you Morris."

Rory rolled her eyes at this, but had no response. They lay side by side, squished on Rory's twin sized bed, both staring at the ceiling.

"Mom?" Rory said after a long silence.

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

"I know, sweetie," said Lorelai with a smile. She wasn't exactly sure what Rory was apologizing for, but it still felt good to hear it, and having her back in the house felt like a weight had been lifted. Even with Luke there, the house had not been the same since Rory left for college two years ago, and the emptiness just got worse when it seemed as though she never wanted to come back.

"Mom?" Said Rory again, pulling Lorelai out of her reverie.

"What, hun?"

"Do you think I can do this?"

"Do what?"

"Life. Journalism. Yale."

"Rory, don't be ridiculous. Of course you can."

Lorelai's response made Rory giggle. Her mom and Luke really were perfect for each other, she thought. "Funny," she started, "that's exactly what L—" and stopped herself, realizing what she was saying, and not wanting to spill the beans about her talk with Luke. For some reason, she just felt like keeping that to herself for now.

However, Lorelai picked up on what Rory was about to say, and it suddenly dawned on her what was going on. She expected to be angry about this situation – her soon to be husband (!) and her daughter conspiring against her. But all she felt was relief that someone was looking out for Rory, seeing as she hadn't done such a good job of that herself recently. 'I should have figured it out sooner,' she thought, not surprised at all that Luke had taken it upon himself to watch out for her. It was what he'd always done. She'd just been too proud to let him.

"Mom?" Rory said again.

"Still present."

"Do you think… I mean, I know you said you didn't want me bumming around Stars Hollow, and I won't, I promise, but do you think… I… I really want to come home," she said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Oh Rory," sighed Lorelai, stroking her hair again. She didn't know how to respond to this. She wanted nothing more than for Rory to come back home. She wanted to be able to hang out with her daughter, mock movies, eat junk food and talk about silly things like boys and nail polish like they always had. But things had changed. They had both grown up, and Lorelai knew that it would take a lot to get them back to that stage. She wasn't sure they ever could return to that stage, actually. Torn between wanting her best friend back and needing to make sure her daughter would be ok, her emotions took over and she said the only thing she could think of.

"Of course you can come home. You can always come home, no matter how weird things are between us. But, one condition. I don't care what you do with your summer vacation, that's your time. But you have to go back to school in the fall."

"I'll think about it," said Rory.

Lorelai was growing weary of this conversation, and decided to end it before her daughter's stubbornness got the better of her. "Fair enough," she said.

* * *

Lorelai went back to her bedroom, still not too happy with having to sleep there all alone, but decided she needed her beauty sleep. As frustrated as she was with Rory, she was infinitely glad just to have her close by, and she knew Luke had a hand in that. She was suddenly overwhelmed with love for him, which just made her miss him more. As she climbed back into bed, she noticed a big envelope on the nightstand with her name on it. She wasn't sure how she had missed it before, but she shrugged and opened it nonetheless. She pulled out the photo that Rachel had taken years ago, staring at it in wonder. She turned it over, noticing the note on the back of it.

_Lorelai,_

_Since we never managed to hire a photographer, why don't we just make this our wedding album. I think it says all we need to know._

_Luke_

Lorelai was amazed that Luke had even kept that picture, even though when she noticed the way they were looking at each other in it, she saw why. She couldn't believe how incredibly insane they'd been, pretending that there was nothing between them all those years. Finally, after staring at it for what seemed like eternity, she stood it against the lamp on her nightstand, turned out the light, and grabbed her cell phone.

She turned it on and dialed Luke's apartment, even though she knew he would probably kill her. Just the sound of the phone ringing made her smile, which she thought was absolutely absurd, but decided to go with it anyway. After the phone rang and rang and rang, Luke finally picked up.

"Go back to sleep Lorelai," he mumbled.

"I love you," she said softly.

Luke sighed into the phone, and she could tell he was trying not to smile. "I love you too. Please go back to sleep."

"'Night," she said, and clicked off her phone.

* * *

The next morning, Luke woke up ridiculously early for no good reason other than he wanted the day to start already so it could end. Not that he was in any way dreading his wedding, but it was just that, he kind of was. He hated parties and crowds and large social gatherings, even more so when he had to be the center of attention. The whole idea of a party thrown just for him, which included many, if not all of the craziest people in Stars Hollow made him a little nauseous.

However, when he thought about the idea of Lorelai in a wedding dress, kissing her, holding her, even possibly dancing with her, the nausea went away a little bit. This thought propelled him out of bed, and he made his way toward the bathroom. On the way there though, he noticed a small package sitting on his nightstand, and wondered how he hadn't seen it before. He had no way of knowing how long it had even been there. However, by now he knew that most of the time there was no way of explaining one of Lorelai's schemes, so he decided not to bother trying anymore.

He started to unwrap the green and red plaid wrapping paper, wondering what the hell she could have possibly thought of this time. As he opened it, he thought, 'a book? Why is she giving me a… "Oh geez," he said aloud when he saw the cover. It was the stupid self help book he had bought over a year ago, when he was just getting over his ridiculous divorce. He knew that was going to come back to bite him in the ass. He had no idea how she even knew he had read it, since he only recalled ever mentioning it to her once, accidentally, and then offering no further explanation. Glancing at it again, he laughed at the absurdity of it, and began flipping through it, stopping when he saw the note on the inside front cover.

_Luke,_

_This made me think of you. Can't possibly think of why._

_I love you, burger boy. Always._

_Lorelai_

God, thought Luke, she's done it again. 'Just when I thought I had her figured out,' he thought, 'she goes and does something like this.' He didn't think it was possible to love anyone that much, and never in his wildest dreams had he thought that Lorelai would love him back just as much. The more he thought about it, the more he was actually looking forward to this wedding. Not only had Lorelai managed to brighten his day first thing in the morning, but now she actually had him looking forward to going to a ridiculous, showy party. If that wasn't true love, he didn't know what was.

* * *

Meanwhile, things were going a little differently at the Gilmore household. Lorelai had set her alarm so that she would have time to linger over breakfast, finish decorating at the inn, hang out with Rory, and primp appropriately all before the wedding. However, the stupid thing purred so softly that she turned it off without realizing what she was doing and went right back to sleep. Lorelai was exhausted after being up half the night, and was now dead to the world.

Downstairs, Rory had decided to sleep in, especially after her late night chat with Lorelai the night before. However, she woke up with a strange anxiety building up inside her, and she couldn't get back to sleep. She wasn't sure what it was she was so anxious about – after all, it wasn't her wedding day. Nonetheless, she got out of bed in search of some coffee, and was surprised not to see Lorelai in the kitchen. There were no breakfast dishes in the sink either, nor was there coffee in the coffeepot. Rory wandered upstairs, and shrieked when she saw her mom still in bed.

"Mom! You have to get up!"

"What?" mumbled Lorelai, "why?"

"Because you're getting married today, and you were supposed to get up two hours ago."

"So?"

"Mom, get up!"

"I don't wanna."

"Yes, you do. Look," said Rory, holding the clock in front of Lorelai's face, "it's already 10. You're getting married in… eight hours."

Lorelai shot up, shouting, "What? How did it get so late?" and with that, she was up and running. Rory valiantly gave her the coffee she had poured for herself, and watched in amusement while Lorelai freaked out.

Rory followed Lorelai around the house while she gathered all her crap, drank her coffee, showered, and got dressed in jeans and a T shirt, amazed at her ability to get so much done in half the time it would take most people. She reveled in the fact that she could hang out with Lorelai in their house, like she had always done. She thought about their talk from the night before, and suddenly felt inspired. She knew what had to be done, but in order to get it done in time, she needed to bolt – right now.

Just as Lorelai was flying out the door and waiting for Rory to follow, Rory started rummaging through her backpack, and then slung it over her shoulder.

"Rory, what are you doing? Come on."

Rory flew out the door past Lorelai, yelling, "I have to go. I gotta do a thing. I'll be back in a flash, I promise."

Lorelai had no idea what her daughter was up to, but frankly did not have the time or energy to care. She just hoped it was legal.

* * *

Rory hopped in her car and drove as fast as she could all the way to Hartford. She slammed into the pool house, and sat down at her computer. She rummaged into the depths of her backpack until she found the little sliver of paper she was looking for. She opened a blank e-mail message, and typed the e-mail addressinto the "to" box.

It took her a little while to locate her most recent resume, along with the cover letter she had written the week before (just in case, she had thought). The fact that her heart was beating at record speed and her insides were tying up in knots didn't make the process any faster. She typed what she hoped was a creative and witty introduction to herself into the message box, and when she was satisfied, she hit the "send" button, breathing a sigh of relief. She stared at the screen for a second longer, letting what she had just done sink in. She had no idea what was going to come of it, perhaps nothing, she surmised, but at least she had tried.

As she got back into her car, she remembered that she had one more errand to run. She pulled up in front of the post office, and found the envelope she had shoved in her purse a week earlier. She leaned on the steering wheel, and checked off all the requisite boxes, shoving the papers back into the envelope and sealing it. She felt her heartbeat return to normal as she dropped it into the mailbox. Rory had no idea what she was going to do with herself at school in the fall, but now she had the whole summer to figure that out. Maybe going back to Yale, where she got to live in a dorm, eat off a meal plan, have her day determined by the professors' schedules and read as many books as she wanted was the safe option. Maybe it was a way of keeping her sheltered, preventing her from experiencing the real world for a little while longer. But, she decided, sometimes playing it safe paid off in the long run. Besides, she thought, Paris was going to need a roommate.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere in the middle of attaching flowers to the chuppah, setting up chairs and wondering where the hell Rory had gone, Lorelai decided she desperately needed coffee. She drove over to Luke's, thinking that at the very least, Lane or Cesar would be there. When she got there, she was surprised to see Luke in his usual position behind the counter, in his usual uniform.

"What are you doing!" she exclaimed.

"I think they call this… working, but I'll have to look it up in the dictionary later."

"You're working today?"

"Someone has to pay the bills around here."

"Luke!"

"Are you going to order, because I have customers," he said, enjoying watching Lorelai's eyes get wider and wider. She looked like she was about to have a heart attack, which Luke found thoroughly amusing.

"Go get ready!"

"For what?"

"Seriously, Luke, there is something wrong with you."

"Yeah, well, you're marrying me, so what does that say about you?"

"That I'm taking pity on you because no one else will go near you?" Lorelai said, as she walked around the counter and sidled up to him.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting you back," she said, "I know how much you hate it when people dare to go behind your counter." Lorelai put both arms around his neck, pulling him as close to her as she could get.

"Lorelai," said Luke, his voice changing from annoyed to affectionate in a matter of seconds, "that was extremely –"

"—dirty!" She finished, with an evil grin and a sparkle in her eye.

Luke gave in, putting his arms around her waist and holding her just as close. They gazed at each other for a second, not caring that they probably looked really silly and that Luke had customers.

Luckily, just as Kirk was about to shout Luke's name, Lane appeared from somewhere in the depths of the kitchen.

"Shut up, Kirk," she told him preemptively, "are you gonna order?"

"I need Luke," whined Kirk.

Lane rolled her eyes. "No you don't. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I need to ask Luke a question!" he whined again.

"Not right now you don't, Kirk. Here," she said, handing him a bag of Oreos. "Go home and finish rehearsing saying 'I now pronounce you man and wife' or whatever it is you're going to do."

For some reason, Kirk actually listened, and scurried off. Lane watched him, proud of herself. "Someday," she said to herself, "all this will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine."

Meanwhile, at the other end of the counter, Lorelai was still tangled in Luke's embrace, not ready to let go.

"So," she whispered, "this is it. You ready?"

"For what?" Luke deadpanned.

With that, Lorelai kissed him long and hard, right in the middle of his diner. When they finally broke, Lorelai rested her head on his shoulder, still not wanting to let go of him. Luke's fingers tangled in her hair.

"I love you," he whispered, enjoying the moment.

"I think Lane just declared herself Queen of the Kingdom over here. You better go take care of that," Lorelai responded, reluctantly pulling away.

Lorelai pulled herself together, grabbed her coffee, and started towards the door. "See you later," she called over her shoulder, and, "Bye Lane," as if it were just a normal day.

Lane watched the scene in amazement, an uncontrollable smile spreading across her face.

"What!" exclaimed Luke, back to his usual gruffness.

Lane just shook her head and went back to the depths of the kitchen to help Cesar.

Lorelai hopped back in her car, her spirits lifted, but a little worried that Lane, Kirk and Luke himself were still at the diner when they were all supposed to participate in a wedding in a couple of hours. Then again, so was she, so she decided to let it go.

* * *

As twilight began to fall over Stars Hollow, townies came out of the woodwork to congregate at the Dragonfly and witness this wedding. Lorelai, Patty and Babette had strung twinkle lights all around the perimeter of the lawn, as well as on the backs of the chairs and around the makeshift dance floor, trying to create the illusion of stars in the night sky. According to Jewish tradition, you were supposed to wait until there were three stars in the sky to start any holiday, which was what Lorelai was trying to create. Although she was pretty sure Christmas lights weren't supposed to factor into that.

As the sky darkened, the lights twinkled, and guests began to take their seats as Lorelai and Rory prepared to walk down the aisle together. Lorelai was amazed at how many people in town seemed to be interested in her wedding, but then she remembered that a lot of them were probably making lots of money off of it. Rory had invited Paris, and unfortunately Logan, who sat next to each other, but looked like they didn't want to catch each other's cooties.

Liz and TJ weren't due back at the Ren Faire for another couple of weeks, so Liz walked Luke down the aisle, and then took her seat in front next to TJ. After her accidental run in with the Broadway section of the music store, Lorelai had reluctantly decided to walk down the aisle to _Sunrise, Sunset_. At first, she had hated how ordinary it was, hated the fact that every bride in the world used that song, but after listening to it for about twenty seconds, she had her reasons for choosing it, and knew she had to have it.

As she and Rory made their way down the aisle to the music, Rory suddenly nudged her, and whispered, "Hey. This song is a waltz."

Lorelai whispered back, "I know," and gave Rory a knowing smile.

* * *

Finally, after what seemed like years of walking down the aisle, Luke and Lorelai stood under the chuppah. In front of… Kirk. They waited expectantly while Kirk took his time, apparently memorizing something or other. Finally, "I've known Monica and Chandler…"

"Kirk!" Lorelai hissed, "you have to at least change the names!"

"Right, right. Sorry," said Kirk, "I'll start again." He took a long dramatic pause, and then started in with, "Mawwiage… is what… bwings us…. Together… today."

By this point, Luke was already losing it, and Lorelai was looking at Kirk in terror. Luke nudged Lorelai and whispered, "Hey. At least he's not singing about spirographs and Yahtzee."

This elicited a snicker from Lorelai. "I told you we should've made him rehearse."

"Yeah, but it's more fun this way."

Luke pulled himself together, and Lorelai gave Kirk a stern look, silently vowing to kick his ass the first opportunity she got. Luckily, they made it through most of the rest of the ceremony without any more misquoted movies, and they managed to be serious long enough to repeat their vows and exchange rings. They had briefly toyed with the idea of writing their own vows, but neither one of them was too fond of making mushy public declarations, so they decided to let Kirk say whatever he wanted. Unfortunately, they got so wrapped up in each other that they didn't realize that Kirk had been babbling for ten minutes, telling detailed stories of his history with both of them.

Finally, Luke looked around at the congregation, and noticed people checking their watches. "Wrap it up, Kirk," Lorelai warned, but Kirk kept going, not willing to give up his moment in the spotlight.

"Man and wife, Kirk!" Luke exclaimed, probably a little louder than he should have. "Say man and wife!"

The reference not lost on Kirk, he obliged. "Man and wife!" he shouted.

"Finally," muttered Luke.

"Very romantic," responded Lorelai.

As Lorelai had requested, Luke stomped on a wine glass, and as they made their way back down the aisle, the congregation erupted into a lively Hebrew song that sounded like it only had about four words. "What did I tell you about singing in another language?" Luke grumbled. Lorelai laughed, not expecting any less from him.

* * *

After the ceremony, as the guests began milling around, Luke took Lorelai's hand and raced toward the back door of the inn, dragging her with him. Never a fan of running in heels, Lorelai was puzzled, and a little annoyed.

"Luke!" she cried, "slow down. Where are we going?"

"Just come with me."

When they got out of the tangle of the crowd, he slowed to a walk, still gripping Lorelai's hand tightly. He dragged her inside and up the stairs, stopping in front of room seven to rummage for the key in his pocket.

Lorelai giggled when she saw what he was doing. "Luke, we're supposed to wait till _after_ the wedding to do that."

"Be quiet and follow me," Luke said, as he opened the door, ushered her in, and locked it behind them.

"I told you I'm not into submissive," she said.

Luke leaned against the door and gazed at her, in awe of how beautiful she was. He knew he was being a little creepy, and probably annoying the hell out of Lorelai at the same time, but he didn't care.

Confused, and a little irritated, Lorelai stood in front of him with her hands on her hips in defiance.

"Ok, stalker man, you wanna tell me what we're doing here? Did you slip some roofies into my drink and now you're waiting for them to take effect?"

Luke walked over to her and put his arms around her waist. "According to that book you were reading, the bride and groom are supposed to be locked in a room together before they join the crowd at the reception. It said something about it being the first time the couple is allowed to do that, but I just liked the idea of getting a couple of minutes alone with you, away from the party."

"Oh," said Lorelai with a grin, "like seven minutes in heaven?"

"I have a feeling I'm going to be saying this a lot from now on, but… what?"

"Don't tell me you never played seven minutes in heaven."

"I don't think so."

"In junior high? When you got locked in a closet with a boy and you were supposed to make out for seven minutes?"

"I must have missed that one."

"Lucky you," said Lorelai, as she slid her arms around his waist.

Luke tightened his arms around her, and they slipped into a comfortable embrace. "Have I told you how beautiful you look today?" Luke finally said.

Not bothering to disentangle herself from his arms, Lorelai said into his shirt, "I'm wearing Madonna's 'Like a Virgin' costume."

"Figures," muttered Luke.

Lorelai pulled away from the hug so she could look at him. "Hey," she said.

Luke reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as he whispered, "Hey back."

"Thank you," said Lorelai.

"For what?"

"Well, if I had to list everything, we'd be here all day. But mostly, for taking care of Rory."

"Ah. She told you about that?"

"No. I figured it out… why, did you think I wouldn't?"

"Yeah, well…" Luke looked embarrassed, and slightly guilty.

"Thank you, Luke."

"You're welcome," he said, and kissed her softly.

* * *

When they finally made their way back outside, the couple was bombarded with wishes of 'mazel tov' and 'congratulations' and 'when are you having kids'. Lorelai fielded the well wishers and intrusions on their sex life, while Luke went off in search of something to drink. He came back several minutes later, and grabbed Lorelai's hand, dragging her over to the edge of the dance floor. "I have something else for you," he whispered in her ear, just as a hush fell over the crowd, and Lane picked up the microphone.

"Luke requested that I play this song," she started, "and he was going to introduce it himself, but he hates making mushy speeches. So Luke, Lorelai – this one's for you."

"Reflecting Light" began to play, and Lorelai looked up at Luke in awe. She couldn't believe he had remembered this song, although by now, she probably should have known better than to be surprised. This was a man who had kept a horoscope she gave him in his wallet for eight years, wrote love notes on napkins, and made sure her daughter was okay without being asked. Yet, surprised she was. "Luke! How… you… huh?" was about all she could muster.

"You wanna dance?" he asked.

"I thought you said you don't dance," she played along.

"Well, I'm a compulsive liar," he finished.

Luke led her out onto the dance floor, and they began to waltz in time to the music. Lorelai didn't think she could possibly be happier. 'Just when I think I have him figured out,' she thought, 'he goes and does something like this.' She reveled in how comfortable they were together, and laughed inwardly at the fact that after all this time, dancing with him like this still made her stomach do that fluttering thing. She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder.

While they danced, Rory and Lane stood arm in arm at the DJ booth, watching them. "They look happy, don't they?" Lane whispered.

"The happiest," said Rory.

As the song came to a close, Lorelai looked up at Luke. "Luke Danes, you never cease to amaze me," she said.

"Right back atcha," he responded.

_The end._


End file.
